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EU’s Von der Leyen issued colonial reparations demand
Former colonies are not seeking a handout but an “appropriate apology,” the Grenadian prime minister has said
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Former colonies are not seeking a handout but an “appropriate apology,” the Grenadian prime minister has said
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen @ Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has been told that former colonial powers must apologize and pay compensation for their historical involvement in the enslavement of Africans.
Addressing the 48th meeting of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) heads of government in Barbados on Thursday, which was attended by von der Leyen, Grenadian Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell urged Western leaders to recognize slavery as a crime against humanity and ensure appropriate reparations are made to prevent the recurrence of such atrocities.
“I don’t mean to be impolite,” Mitchell told von der Leyen. “But I will say it to you: the issue of reparations... is an issue we will take up with you.”
The transatlantic slave trade saw millions of Africans taken from their homeland, bought by European merchants, forcibly transported to the Americas and sold into slavery. Between 1517 and 1867, around 12.5 million people were forced to endure the so-called Middle Passage across the Atlantic, enduring cruel treatment and disease. Only about 10.7 million survived the journey, with nearly 40% sent to work on sugarcane plantations in Brazil.
Demands for reparations for slavery and colonialism have been ongoing for years but are gaining increasing support worldwide, especially among Caricom and the African Union (AU).
Caricom has outlined a reparations plan that includes calls for technology transfers and investments to address health crises and illiteracy. Meanwhile, the AU is in the process of developing its own strategy.
“We owe it to ourselves and future generations of humanity to ensure [slavery] is accepted as a crime against humanity, and that appropriate apology and compensation is paid, and that the international community accepts this should never happen again,” Reuters quoted Mitchell as saying.
Von der Leyen responded to Mitchell but did not mention reparations, only saying that “slavery is a crime against humanity... and the dignity and universal rights of every single human being is untouchable and must be defended by all means”.
Echoing Mitchell’s remarks, the Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister, Gaston Browne, told the Guardian that the Caribbean states were not seeking “a handout” but an “apology for the wrongs of their forebears.”
No specific figures for reparations have been agreed upon yet, according to Caribbean leaders, but the priority is constructive collaboration on the issue. Following the event in Barbados, the issue of compensation was discussed during closed-door meetings, which were also attended by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
