Caribbean nations plan to sue UK for slavery reparations after previously demanding trillions of pounds
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By IAN GALLAGHER
Published: | Updated:
Britain is facing a potential slavery reparations lawsuit from Caribbean nations.
The issue is due to be raised at the Commonwealth summit hosted in Antigua in November, which the King is set to attend.
The Caribbean Community group confirmed last week it was ‘preparing to advance reparations on the agenda of the upcoming 28th Commonwealth heads of government meeting’.
Member countries have long demanded trillions in compensation for the slave trade, described by the UN this year as ‘the gravest crime against humanity’. Britain abolished slavery in 1834 throughout most of its empire, decades before the US did so.
The UK has long rebuffed reparations demands, with Downing Street saying: ‘The transatlantic slave trade was abhorrent. We fully recognise the strength of feeling.
‘The UK’s position is clear – we do not and will not pay reparations. The UK is committed to continued dialogue with all our partners on legacies of the past.’
But Mia Mottley, the prime minister of Barbados, is hosting a conference this week to discuss how to obtain compensation and has suggested legal action via the international courts as an option.
She said the reparations could be paid over generations, in the same way the British Government accrued debt to pay off slave owners over several generations.
Looking for a payout: Prime minister of Barbados Mia Mottley
Ms Mottley added: ‘We have no desire to bankrupt anybody, but we have a desire for justice.’
She also claimed the ‘white’ West’s refusal to pay reparations, while also acting with moral superiority, was hypocritical.
‘Those who want to preach morality, and those who want to tell us about good governance, who want to create the illusion of appropriateness, goodness, purity – the language associated with “white” – are perpetrating a mockery,’ she said.
If pursued, the strategy would involve bringing a case to the International Court of Justice claiming Britain was breaching treaty obligations by not paying compensation.
The UK is a party to the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. The treaty states that reparations should be made for any examples of racial discrimination.
And the UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination suggested last month that the convention should cover ‘reparation for acts of racial discrimination linked to the continuing consequences of historical injustices’.
As such, a UN member state could sue Britain on the grounds that it has breached this treaty.
The committee also recommended measures such as building statues of notable Africans to highlight the positive contributions of the diaspora globally, and expanding teaching about the slave trade in schools.
To assist possible legal claims, Ms Mottley announced that she had appointed a ‘technical committee’ to dig up economic evidence of the harms done to Barbados, which could then be presented in support of the case for redress.
Campaigners have stressed that reparations could take various forms, from development aid to support with healthcare, rather than simply a cash payment.
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