CARICOM planning tough sessions with UK on reparations

Frustrated by the slow place of progress and the reluctance of the United Kingdom to engage the region on formal talks on reparations, Caribbean leaders say they will do all they can to confront Britain and bring them to the table to discuss the issue of the trans Atlantic slave trade and Britain’s enduring responsibilities.

Speaking in Port of Spain, Trinidad’s capital, during annual slavery emancipation celebrations this week, Prime Minister Keith Rowley said heads of governments will “speak forcefully” with Britain and other countries at the upcoming Commonwealth leaders summit in Samoa in the Pacific in October.

“When we meet in Samoa, the Caribbean leaders took a decision this week to very forcefully speak to the Commonwealth as one voice and there is one particular country with a new King and a labor government with an outstanding mandate. We look forward to their reaction in October,” Rowley said.

The region has been pushing former European slave trading nations to discuss compensation and reparations for the horrors of the slave trade. Britain has steadfastly refused to engage the region on the issue, saying that other forms of aid it has given the region in recent decades is a form of compensation. During a visit to the Caribbean two years ago, Prince William had said that “slavery was abhorrent and should never have happened,” but London has stopped short of issuing an apology as The Netherlands did in the past year.

The 15-nation bloc has already sent demand letters to letters to France, The Netherlands, Portugal, the UK, Spain and others reminding them of their responsibilities to descendants of the slave trade as many nations have built their riches on the backs of free African labor. A British law form which has also been retained by Caricom to prosecute the case has already advised that regional pleadings are strong and the case should go ahead.

Officials have said in the past that The Netherlands has been the most progressive so far indicating that it is interested in formal engagement on the issue. Caricom has also pushed for a summit with ex slave trading nations to get the discussion going at the highest level.

PM Rowley quoted late American civil rights leader Martin Luther King as saying that the arc to freedom bends towards justice. “We here gathered are on that arc. We genuinely believe that it will bend to a point in a day when justice would be recognized by all and it will be handed to those who deserve it.”