The demand for slavery reparations from the Caribbean Community has reached a turning point, with action being raised amid debate. The CARICOM Reparations Commission’s Hilary Brown stressed the need for tangible outcomes during the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent in New York.
Reparations demands have been around for a while, but they have recently gained traction globally, especially within the African Union and CARICOM. There has also been an increase in opposition to it.
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The arrangement for reparation by CARICOM includes, among other things, investments and technological transfers to address illiteracy and health concerns. The AU is creating its strategy.
Brown claimed that the new alliance between CARICOM and the AU in the reparations campaign placed the movement at a “defining moment” since it allowed them to demand action with a single voice.
By working together, Brown added, they might promote a high-level political discussion on the subject, co-sponsor a joint UN resolution on reparations, and forward the reparations agenda at the UN and other multilateral agencies.
Brown stated, “CARICOM is ready to take this agenda to the next level, and we welcome the partnership of the AU and other coalitions that share the vision and conviction necessary to ensure that Europe is held to account.”
Even discussing compensation has been met with resistance from several European governments.
Between the 15th and the 19th centuries, at least 12.5 million Africans were abducted, taken by force by European ships, and sold into slavery.
Among other reasons, those opposed to reparations contend that modern governments and organizations shouldn’t be held accountable for their historical mistakes.
Advocates, however, assert that modern nations continue to profit from the riches created by hundreds of years of slavery and that action is required to remove the legacies, such as systematic and structural racism.
