Jamaican minister to file slavery reparations petition to King Charles during UK visit

A Jamaican government delegation visiting Britain is set to file a petition addressed to King Charles on Monday, raising the question of slavery reparations, Kingston’s culture ministry said.

Culture Minister Olivia Grange will lead the delegation “to advance Jamaica’s push for reparations for the African ancestors who suffered under hundreds of years of enslavement”, the ministry said in a statement.

The petition asks the king, who is Jamaica’s head of state, to refer three questions on the legality of the transatlantic slave trade to the Caribbean island’s highest court of appeal based in London.

The delegation says it is the first time a Commonwealth country has used this legal route to pursue the matter of reparations.

Grange said it was “intended to ensure the long outstanding settlement for the hundreds of years of the most horrific abuse that our African ancestors endured”.

They want an advisory opinion on three questions: whether the enslavement of Africans in Jamaica was legal under English law, whether it broke international law, and whether Britain now has a legal duty to provide redress.