Respect Due for Caribbean Youth Parliamentarians Debating Reparations!

The Government and Parliament of Saint Lucia, Ministry of Youth and Sports, National Reparations Committee (NRC), National Youth Council (NYC), The Repair Campaign (TRC) – and the 30+ young men and women who participated in the two-day National Youth Parliament on Reparations on May 26^th and 27^th, must all be roundly-commended for how this historic event played-out.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, the world saw and heard the island’s youth debate a resolution they had well-prepared for, quoting reputable local, regional and international sources as they debated maturely and with confidence — opponents indicating they fully-support CARICOM’s demands for Reparations for Slavery and Native Genocide, but disagree on the approaches outlined in the resolution.

The youth delivered by live-stream, in both houses, in ways that attracted positive comments from home and abroad, also instilling pride in fellow citizens.

They offered strong arguments on CARICOM’s 10-Point Plan (TPP) for Reparatory Justice, including advocating it should be seen as a regional template to be adapted to national circumstances.

They addressed the quest for an apology and reparations from an unwilling UK, explained why most feel reparations are also owed by France — and called for broader alliances between Caribbean and African nations in pursuit of reparations from the same historical perpetrators.

The use of the local Kweyol (creole) language throughout the two debates was another defining factor.

Following similar debates in St Kitts and Nevis (SKN) and designation by the United Nations (UN) earlier this year of Trans-Atlantic Chattel Slavery and Human Trafficking of Africans as ‘The Gravest Crime Against Humanity’, the two-day event offered countless pointers on where today’s youth and students stand on the issue – and how they see its future.

Tomorrow’s leaders spoke clearly and revealed a generation of positive similarities – from women being in the leadership and majority in both the Upper and Lower Houses, to the way each rooted their global arguments in local history and their own family, community and constituency experiences.

Saint Lucia and St. Kitts and Nevis have set the stage for similar debates in the national parliaments involving elected MPs and appointed Senators, as the demands for reparations for colonialism, slavery and native genocide continue to gain support in the UK, across Europe and worldwide.

Reparations are on the table in Africa, Latin America, India and the USA and the demands are yielding positive results, including admissions and apologies from guilty parties, even though not all followed-up with appropriate reparatory justice actions.            

But most-of-all, these youthful, energetic debates took the Caribbean’s message to viewers and listeners the-world-over, marking another positive stage in the globalization of the continuing struggle for reparatory justice initiated by the Caribbean in 2013, which has become the world’s biggest human rights issue today.

Here again, the NRC and TRC must be commended for their joint roles in ensuring the voices of the island’s youth were heard – and loud-enough for the world to also listen.

And to them we also loudly say: Respect Due!