In his final address as Caricom chairman, the Grenadian prime minister, Dickon Mitchell, said: “Your excellency, Ursula von der Leyen, I don’t mean to be impolite, but I will say to you that the issue of reparations for the transatlantic slavery … is an issue that we will take up with you.”.
“And so, as descendants of people who fought for their freedom from chattel slavery, we owe it to ourselves and to future generations of humanity to ensure that the transatlantic slave trade and the enslavement of Africans in the Caribbean, Latin, Central, South and North America is accepted as a crime against humanity and that the appropriate apology and compensation is paid.”.
Confirming reports that Caricom’s 10-point plan for reparatory justice was being updated, he said that the slavery reparations movement is making progress: “It’s [been] raised in the US Congress, in the European Union and the British parliament, and the archbishop of Canterbury has addressed it, families from the past have addressed it.
The issue of transatlantic slavery reparations dominated headlines in October when the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, resisted pressure from member states to include reparations on the agenda at the Commonwealth summit.
Speaking to the Guardian at the Caribbean Community (Caricom) heads of government meeting in Barbados, the Antigua and Barbuda prime minister, Gaston Browne, said Caribbean states were not seeking “a handout”.
