Brian Royes

However, the Task Force wishes to make clear that as admirable and praise-worthy as this project is, we do not consider it to be a reparations or a reparatory justice project. Rather, we consider it to be a social justice project that is, no doubt, rooted in the strong ecumenical outreach and principles of the USPG.

The Haitian government has appointed Fritz Deshommes, the rector of the State University of Haiti (UEH), as the country’s representative to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Reparations Commission, tasked with ensuring reparations and restitution.

England’s most senior cleric has declared that the £100 million fund, established to address the past wrongs of the Church and its role in slavery, must be managed by the descendants of victims.

Fergus said, “Reparations for genocide and enslavement of native peoples is the natural culmination of the struggle against colonialism and neo-colonialism…”

“The Government of Grenada calls upon the Bank of England to make reparations to Grenada on account of the direct involvement of the Bank of England in the 1780s in the enslavement of Africans and their descendants in Grenada.”

Rev Dr Michael Banner’s book, Britain’s Slavery Debt: Reparations Now!, estimates Britain owes over £200 billion to Caribbean nations, based on enslaver compensation claims post-abolition.

The Portuguese president’s timely speech should be leveraged by reparations advocates to redouble efforts to rouse the hibernating consciences of other European Union members.

Commenting on these developments, Denis O’Brien, founder of The Repair Campaign, said; “We are at a tipping point in the fight for reparatory justice. This is the first time that the UK has agreed to repatriate a natural history specimen to the Caribbean (something the Caricom Ten Point Plan for Reparatory Justice has been asking for since it was launched a decade ago) and the first time that a European power has unequivocally stated that the crime of the transatlantic traffickingof enslaved Africans had a ‘cost’ that has to be repaid. As real examples of affirmative action, these developments are hugely significant. The incredible advocacy efforts of so many are bearing fruit. Collectively, we must keep the pressure on. The door is finally ajar, now we need to power through it.”

The United Reformed Church in the United Kingdom on Sunday issued a solemn apology to Jamaica, the Caribbean, and Africa for its role in the transatlantic slave trade, regarded by many as the greatest crime against humanity.