Caribbean advocates for reparatory justice have said that debt relief and development assistance from the UK cannot substitute for reparations for centuries of slavery. Their comments followed Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s proposal to start structured discussions on slavery and reparations, while ruling out reparations themselves and saying Britain could apologise.
Burnham proposed discussions on debt resets for smaller Commonwealth countries and announced £40 million for critical Caribbean infrastructure over the next three years. Speaking as Commonwealth leaders gathered in Antigua, former St Vincent and the Grenadines prime minister Ralph Gonsalves said the region might welcome the proposals but would resist treating debt restructuring or development assistance as reparations.
The Caribbean Community’s 10-point reparations plan calls for debt cancellation rather than restructuring, as well as monetary compensation. It argues that former colonies’ debts are linked to generations of colonial extraction. Gonsalves said issues such as education, health and climate infrastructure appear in the plan, but are also part of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. He said reparatory justice includes distinct demands, including ecological and psychological repair, and potential repatriation, which would require a separate financial arrangement.
Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy, who chairs the House of Commons’ all-party parliamentary group for Afrikan Reparations, said reparative justice must be shaped by the agency of those affected. Speaking at the launch of a global reparations caravan, she said arrangements must be made with harmed communities, not imposed on them.
Gonsalves warned that development assistance is discretionary and should not narrow discussions of reparatory justice to sustainable development goals. Kingsley Abbott, a human rights lawyer and director of the University of London’s Institute of Commonwealth Studies, also said affected communities should determine what reparations involve, stressing the importance of listening to their experiences and demands for justice.
A Foreign Office spokesperson said the government wanted to strengthen Commonwealth relationships by confronting the past and working towards a future of equality, security and hope. The spokesperson added that the UK was committed to working with Commonwealth partners on global debt issues, climate change and economic development.
Sources: The Guardian Politics.