Barbados will host the third CARICOM Regional Conference on Reparations from September 17 to 19, bringing together regional and international voices to discuss the next steps in the Caribbean’s campaign for reparatory justice.
The conference, organised by the CARICOM Reparations Commission, the Government of Barbados and the CARICOM Secretariat, will be held under the theme “Reparatory Justice as the Coming Enlightenment” at the Wyndham Grand Sam Lord’s Castle in St Philip.
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The three-day gathering is expected to examine strategies for advancing CARICOM’s reparations agenda and strengthening cooperation on the historical and continuing consequences of slavery and colonialism.
CARICOM’s reparations campaign is guided by its Ten-Point Plan, which calls for measures including formal apologies, debt cancellation, investment in public health and education, cultural development and support for the economic advancement of Caribbean countries and communities affected by the legacy of slavery.
The Barbados conference comes as international attention on reparatory justice continues to grow. In June, African and Caribbean countries meeting in Ghana endorsed a global framework calling for formal apologies, compensation, the return of cultural property and measures to address the socioeconomic effects of slavery and colonialism.
The issue has also gained renewed international momentum following a United Nations resolution and recent guidance from the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination concerning the obligations of states to consider reparations for the transatlantic slave trade and its continuing consequences.
The first CARICOM Regional Conference on Reparations was held in St Vincent and the Grenadines in 2013, where the CARICOM Reparations Commission was launched. The second conference took place in Antigua and Barbuda in 2014.
The upcoming Barbados conference is therefore expected to focus less on establishing the case for reparations and more on determining practical ways to advance the movement, strengthen regional unity and translate international commitments into action.
The meeting comes at a significant time for the Caribbean, as governments and reparations advocates seek greater recognition of the long-term effects of slavery and colonial rule and push for concrete responses from countries and institutions that benefited from those systems.
