CARICOM Nations Approve Reparation Plan

March 18, 2014

Leaders of Caribbean nations unanimously approved a ten-point slavery reparation plan proposed by the Caricom Reparations Commission which calls for a number of actions including a full formal apology, debt cancellation and repatriation.

Sir Hilary Beckles, the Chairman of the Caricom Reparations Commission, said: “I am very pleased that the conference has adopted the Plan. Reparations for the slave era is an issue that has resonated increasingly in recent years.

“Reparations for slavery, and the century of racial apartheid that replaced it into the 1950s, resonate as a popular right today in Caribbean communities because of the persistent harm and suffering linked to the crimes against humanity under colonialism.”

Martyn Day, from law firm Leigh Day and who is advising the commission said, “This is a very comprehensive and fair set of demands on the Governments whose countries grew rich at the expense of those regions whose human wealth was stolen from them.

“A Conference in London between representatives of CARICOM and the slave nations, to include the Governments of Holland, UK, France as well as potentially other nations who profited from the slave trade, will enable our clients to quickly gauge whether or not their concerns are being taken seriously.”

Speaking on repatriation, the 10-point plan said, “Over 10 million Africans were stolen from their homes and forcefully transported to the Caribbean as the enslaved chattel and property of Europeans. The transatlantic slave trade is the largest forced migration in human history and has no parallel in terms of man’s inhumanity to man.

“This trade in enchained bodies was a highly successful commercial business for the nations of Europe. The lives of millions of men, women and children were destroyed in search of profit. The descendants of these stolen people have a legal right to return to their homeland.

“A Repatriation program must be established and all available channels of international law and diplomacy used to resettle those persons who wish to return.”

To see the full 10 point plan click here.

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