Reparations in the News May 2026: Onwards and forwards
Reparations in the News May 2026: Onwards and forwards
31st of May 2026
By The Repair Campaign
Repair took centre stage at the Saint Lucia Jazz & Arts Festival
A group of performers and reparations advocates produced a theatrical performance titled “Repair” on Tuesday, May 5 at the Anchorage Car Park. The play used music, humor and storytelling to invite audiences to reflect on the connection between Saint Lucia’s colonial legacy, the country’s present-day challenges, and the changes needed to move forward.
Elder and Senior Advisor Dr. Ralph Gonsalves calls for reparatory justice to be front and centre at the upcoming Commonwealth Summit
During a visit to Kingston, Jamaica to discuss strengthening regional partnerships ahead of key global milestones, Dr. Gonsalves urged unity and focus, calling for all “tributaries to be joined into a mighty stream” in support of the movement.
A “moral, historic, diplomatic and political mistake” - Activists declaim French president Emmanuel Macron’s stance on reparatory justice
Activists and scholars have issued an open letter urging Macron to confront France’s slavery legacy with concrete reparatory action. Macron acknowledged the lasting harms of enslavement, but stopped short of commitments— repeating colonial myths at the center of French institutions and fueling criticism that France remains reluctant to move beyond remembrance toward justice.
May 2026 marks 25 years since the French Senate ratified the Taubira Law presented by then MP Christiane Taubira on 10th May 2001. This law declared that “the French Republic recognises on the one hand the transatlantic slave trade as well as the trade in the Indian Ocean, on the other hand chattel enslavement, perpetuated from the 15th century in the Americas and in the Caribbean, in the Indian Ocean and in Europe against African, Indigenous, Malagasy, Indian populations are a crime against humanity”. 25 years on, the French government has set up several working groups and organisations investigating France’s roles in these crimes, with deliberate disregard for state-level acts of repair.
The Church of Scotland has formally apologised for its historical links to the transatlantic trafficking in enslaved Africans
The Church of Scotland issued a formal apology for its links to chattel slavery on 17 May 2026 at its General Assembly in Edinburgh. The apology was delivered by the Moderator, Rt. Rev. Gordon Kennedy, acknowledging the Church’s role, admitting to lasting harm and ongoing racial inequality and committing to reflection, education, and further action toward justice and reconciliation beyond the apology.
Commemorating Haitian Flag Day:
“Together with the Grenadiers, let’s make the flag fly higher!”
“Ansanm ak grenadye yo, ann fè drapo a flote pi wo!”
18th May 1803 Haitian revolutionaries adopted the Haitian flag at the Congress of Arcahaie. For its 223rd anniversary, ceremonies and fetes were held across Haiti celebrating the resilience and strength of the Haitian people and nation.
Exploring Collective Pathways to a Reparative Future
The Bristol Reparative Futures Programme hosted dynamic conversations on building equitable societies through reparative justice, community-led initiatives, and collective healing
The Youth Parliaments of St. Kitts and Nevis debate resolutions on reparatory justice
On 7 May 2026, the St. Kitts National Youth Parliament Association (SKNYPA) in partnership with The Repair Campaign hosted a historic parliamentary debate advocating for reparatory justice at the National Assembly Chambers in Basseterre.
The sitting, attended by the Honourable Prime Minister Dr. Terrance Drew, brought together passionate youth debaters calling for the implementation of the CARICOM Ten-Point Plan for reparatory justice, and the establishment of other mechanisms to pursue reparatory justice. The Nevis Youth Parliament Association also hosted their landmark parliamentary debate on reparatory justice on 26 May 2026 calling for action towards repair.
The Saint Lucia Youth Parliament champions discussions on repair
The Saint Lucia Youth Parliament, in partnership with the National Reparations Committee of Saint Lucia and The Repair Campaign hosted a landmark youth parliamentary debate from 26 – 27 May 2026 calling for policies and programmes of actions to pursue reparatory justice.
Celebrating 60 while acknowledging 400 years of struggle in Guyana
Guyana celebrated 60 years of independence on 26 May 2026. The Repair Campaign Community Organiser in Guyana Kibwe Copeland held an online forum with participants from across the country to discuss the significance of reparatory justice amidst this significant independence milestone, and action towards pursuing repair.
The Vatican Speaks: Pope Leo XIV’s historic apology
“The Catholic Church has never been an innocent bystander in the history of white supremacy”, Shannon Dee Williams, historian acknowledged Pope Leo XIV’s apology as a “monumental step toward the kind of essential truth-telling and reparation…”. The Vatican holds an important role in the moral codes made up to justify mass trafficking and enslavement of African populations. Pope Leo XIV’s apology is refreshing, but needs to be followed by investigations into the full of the Vatican.