UK slavery reparations must be top issue at Commonwealth summit, says campaigner

It is “inconceivable” that reparatory justice from Britain for the transatlantic trade of enslaved Africans will not be “front and centre” of the next Commonwealth leaders’ meeting, the former prime minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines has said. Ralph Gonsalves was in Jamaica to discuss the next steps of the “alive and growing” movement to advocate for reparations for hundreds of years of chattel slavery. The opposition leader was recently appointed an elder and adviser for the Repair Campaign , a social movement for reparatory justice founded by the Irish telecoms tycoon Denis O’Brien. Gonsalves was instrumental in setting up the Caribbean Community’s (Caricom) reparations commission to support Caribbean governments’ call for recognition of the lasting legacy of colonialism and enslavement, and for reparative justice from former colonisers. He said the leaders of the 56-country Commonwealth grouping, which includes 33 Caribbean and African nations, could not ignore the strong momentum towards a reparations resolution. Between the 15th and 19th centuries more than 12.5 million Africans were kidnapped, forcibly transported to the Americas and sold into slavery. The issue dominated headlines during the last Commonwealth heads of government meeting (Chogm), held in October 2024, when the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, resisted pressure from member states to include reparations in the summit’s agenda. …