Commonwealth leaders have agreed “the time has come” for a conversation about making amends for slavery. Source: ABC News.
They have also backed a major Oceans Declaration and calling for “urgent, ambitious and collective” action on climate change.
Discussions over slavery reparations have brewed on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Samoa, with some Caribbean and African countries arguing that nations that benefited from colonialism should help countries devastated by it.
The UK has ruled out paying any financial reparations or issuing a formal apology, but Keir Starmer’s government has opened the door to discussing other “reparatory justice” – a broader term that can encompass both symbolic gestures and practical assistance.
Multiple sources familiar with the meeting said there had been protracted negotiations over the wording on reparatory justice, with some Caribbean leaders frustrated by what they saw as UK intransigence on the issue.
The final communique issued by CHOGM calls for reparatory justice and says many Commonwealth countries share “common historical experiences” relating to the “enduring effects” of the slave trade, Indigenous dispossession and blackbirding.
It also calls for a “meaningful, truthful and respectful conversation” about addressing the harms caused by that legacy, and “forging a common future based on equity”.
Commonwealth leaders also used their final statement in the wake of the meeting to call for ramped-up action on climate change.
The document says leaders “emphasised the importance of transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems in a just, orderly, and equitable manner” and wanted to make sure the world “accelerated action during this critical decade to achieve global net zero emissions by 2050”.
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Commonwealth leaders agree ‘time has come’ for talks on legacy of slavery (By Stephen Dziedzic, ABC News)
