African, Caribbean states back slavery reparations plan at Ghana meeting
Leaders backed a 19-point plan for apologies, restitution and a global reparations fund after a U.N. resolution gave the campaign new momentum.
- On Friday, African and Caribbean leaders gathered in Accra, Ghana, urging former slave-trading nations to issue apologies and reparations following a landmark U.N. resolution in March declaring slavery the gravest crime against humanity.
- The Next Steps conference in Accra issued a declaration calling on countries involved in the Atlantic slave trade to "offer full, formal and unconditional apologies" as a foundational step towards reconciliation and trust-building.
- Ghana President John Dramani Mahama told delegates from more than 80 countries that "recognition creates responsibility," noting about 12 million Africans were forcefully taken between the 16th and 19th centuries and enslaved on plantations.
- Organizers aim to shift the reparations debate from recognition to concrete measures, including potential requirements for compensation under international law, leveraging the moral authority of the recent international resolution.
- Global perspectives remain divided; a 2021 Pew Research Center survey found only three in 10 United States adults supported reparations for descendants of enslaved people.
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Associated Press News
Ghana conference urges slave-trade nations to issue apologies and reparations
African and Caribbean leaders in Ghana are urging former slave-trading nations to issue apologies and reparations for the trafficking of enslaved Africans.
Following the adoption by the United Nations of a resolution recognizing slavery and the transatlantic trade as "the most serious crime against humanity" in March, African and Caribbean countries met in Ghana to make joint demands for reparations.
Africa: Boakai Urges Africa to Broaden Reparations Agenda
President Joseph Nyuma Boakai has called on Africa and the international community to redefine the global conversation on reparations for the transatlantic slave trade, arguing that justice for one of history's greatest crimes against humanity must extend far beyond monetary compensation to include truth-telling, institutional reform, cultural restoration, and reconciliation.
Meeting from 17 to 19 June in Ghana for the first major summit held since the adoption of the historic United Nations resolution on the consequences of slavery last March, African leaders and Caribbean representatives are trying to turn this symbolic diplomatic breakthrough into concrete proposals.
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