Commonwealth heads of government protest against Britain over slave reparations

PA Media

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said this week he wanted to discuss current issues rather than the past with Commonwealth leaders, particularly climate change.

Commonwealth leaders are preparing to defy Britain and have agreed plans to review reparative justice for the transatlantic slave trade, the BBC reported.

Downing Street insisted the issue was not on the agenda for the summit of the Commonwealth's 56 countries, which begins on Friday in the Pacific island nation of Samoa.

But diplomatic sources said officials were negotiating an agreement to conduct further research and begin meaningful talks on the issue, which could cost Britain billions of pounds in compensation.

Bahamas Foreign Minister Frederick Mitchell told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: “Once you mention the topic, it may take a while for people to come around, but they will come back.”

Reparative justice for slavery can take many forms, including financial reparations, debt relief, formal apologies, educational programs, museums, economic assistance, and public health support.

The current text of the draft summit statement, as known to the BBC, is as follows: Delegates agreed that the time has come for meaningful, truthful, and respectful dialogue, noting the need for discussion on compensatory justice related to the transatlantic trade and chattel enslavement of enslaved Africans. We will create a common future based on equity.

The report will play an active role in leading heads of government to engage in a comprehensive dialogue to address these evils, and will encourage and support further and more research into the transatlantic trade of enslaved Africans and chattel slavery to encourage, support and inform dialogue. They said they agreed to set priorities and promote them. The way forward.

The details, which are still subject to change once Commonwealth leaders arrive, were drawn up by diplomats ahead of the summit. British officials succeeded in thwarting plans to make an entirely separate declaration on the subject.

The UK did not want any language to be included in the statement on compensatory justice, but it has now had to accept it and will include three full paragraphs setting out the Commonwealth's detailed position.

Officials at Caricom, the agency representing Caribbean countries, have been trying to expand the issue to encompass the Pacific as well as the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

The draft statement states that the majority of Member States share a common historical experience with regard to this abhorrent trade, enslavement of chattels, and the debilitation and dispossession of indigenous peoples.

It also refers directly to the practice known as blackbirding, in which Pacific Islanders were tricked or kidnapped into becoming slaves or cheap labor in colonies throughout the region.

Diplomats said they now expected compensatory justice to be a central focus of the agenda for the next Commonwealth summit to be held in the Caribbean, possibly in Antigua and Barbuda, within two years.

Ahead of this year's summit, there are growing calls from Commonwealth leaders for Britain to apologize for its historic role in the slave trade and pay trillions of pounds in compensation.

A report published last year by the University of the West Indies, with the support of International Court of Justice judge Patrick Robinson, concluded that Britain owes more than $18 trillion in reparations for slavery in 14 Caribbean countries.

PA Media

Prior to the Commonwealth meeting, King Charles met with local people involved in reforestation efforts in Samoa and attended the installation of an honorary chief.

Reuters

Queen Camilla attended a women's forum event hosted by Scottish Commonwealth Secretary-General Baroness Astal in Samoa.

Last weekend, Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis, following a visit by Foreign Minister Baroness Chapman, said the fight for compensation was far from over.

“That’s what the word apology is,” Bahamas Foreign Minister Frederick Mitchell told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“It’s a simple question that can be done in one sentence, one line,” he told the Commonwealth Conference.

Asked how much compensation should be, Mr Mitchell said it was not just a matter of money but respect, acknowledging the past was a wrong that needed to be righted.

He said member states “want to start a dialogue” but “there seems to be even a reluctance to do so.”

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said Britain had heard calls for slavery reparations “loud and clear” but the Prime Minister was “right” to “focus on the future”.

A UK government spokesman told the BBC it would not comment on the leaks, but added: “Reparations are not on the agenda of the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting.” The government's position remains unchanged. We do not pay compensation.

“We are focused on leveraging Summit. [the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting] We discuss shared opportunities that can be leveraged across the Commonwealth, including securing further economic growth.

Downing Street's stance that reparative justice was not on the agenda, although technically correct, is understood to have angered some Caribbean ministers after it became clear the issue would be discussed at the summit.

The BBC understands the government's tone and tone has left some members “further irritated” who did not expect the UK to change its views and “suddenly start pouring in a lot of money”.

Sir Keir Starmer landed in Samoa late Wednesday UK time, becoming the first sitting prime minister to visit the Pacific island nation.

Speaking to reporters along the way, he said he wanted to discuss current issues with Commonwealth leaders, particularly climate change, rather than those of the past.

“What they’re most interested in is whether you can help them work together with international financial institutions to work together on the kind of package they need right now in relation to the challenges they face,” he said.

“Rather than ending up in a very long, endless discussion about reparations for the past, we will focus on just that.

Of course, slavery is an abomination to everyone. There is no question about trade and practices. But from my perspective, I think it's better to roll up our sleeves and work with them on the future challenges of the present rather than spending a lot of time on the past.

King Charles arrived in Samoa on Wednesday for a four-day visit and will formally open the summit.

When the king visited Kenya last year, he expressed his “deepest sadness and regret” over the “wrongs” of the colonial era, but did not issue an apology, which would require the consent of ministers.

Some non-Caribbean countries are not cool with Britain's position and want the summit to focus more on existing challenges such as climate change, which is having a negative impact on many Commonwealth countries, about half of which are small island states. .

But Caribbean countries seem determined to keep pressing the issue.

This weekend, the three candidates hoping to be elected as the next Commonwealth secretary-general – Ghana's Shirley Botchwey, Lesotho's Joshua Setipa and Gambia's Mamadou Tangara – have all made it clear that they support compensatory justice.

The British government and monarchy, along with other European countries, were major participants in the slave trade for hundreds of years starting in 1500, with millions of Africans forced to work on plantations.

Britain also played a key role in ending the trade when Congress passed legislation abolishing slavery in 1833.

“It is very wrong in principle to pay reparations for something that happened hundreds of years ago,” said former British Ambassador to the United Nations Mark Lyall Grant.

“Who should pay reparations?” he told BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme, asking whether West African countries, Caribbean countries or the Windrush generation should take part.

Labor MP Clive Lewis said the UK needed to “start a dialogue” with Commonwealth leaders, adding: “We can do better by them”.

His colleague Dawn Butler said Britain should pay reparations because “it's the right thing to do”.

During a Black History Month debate in the House of Representatives, she pointed out that slave owners received $20 million ($100 billion in today's money) in compensation.

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