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	The choice is ours: oligarchy or democracy? by Carlos Brown Sola Program Director at Oxfam Mexico   For over a decade, Oxfam has published an annual report on extreme economic inequalities to coincide with the World Economic Forum in Davos, where global elites gather to discuss the future of our societies and economies in a notably exclusive and non-democratic setting.   A recurring theme in these reports has been how the wealthiest in our societies continue to grow ever richer, at the expense of the lives of billions of people around the world.   Oxfam’s most recent annual report, ‘Resisting the rule of the rich: defending freedom against billionaire power’, shows that we have reached a new peak in the concentration of extreme wealth – posing urgent questions for the future of democratic society.   In 2025, despite economic and geopolitical turbulence, the combined fortunes of billionaires – some 3,000 people worldwide with a net worth exceeding one billion US dollars – grew three times faster than the average of the previous five years, reaching an all-time high of US$18.3 trillion. Last year alone, their fortunes increased by $2.5 trillion, an amount equivalent to the entire wealth held by the poorest half of humanity.   Indeed, that sum would be enough to eradicate extreme poverty 26 times over. One multi-billionaire, Elon Musk, became the first person in history to surpass the half-trillion-dollar mark and now has a fortune of nearly $766 billion (as of January 2026), closing in on becoming the first ever trillionaire.   This phenomenon is not exclusive to the United States or Europe. Latin America and the Caribbean, for example, currently boast a record 109 billionaires with a combined wealth of US$622 billion, equivalent to the combined annual GDP of Chile and Peru. These Latin American fortunes, of which slightly more than half are the product of inheritances, grew by 39% in the last year alone. Over the last five years, the richest man in Latin America and the Caribbean today, Carlos Slim Helu, earned each second what the average Mexican earned in a week’s work.   But it’s not just that billionaires have accumulated more wealth than they could ever spend. It’s also becoming increasingly clear that the extreme concentration of their fortunes is incompatible with a democratic society.   This is in part because the majority of resources in our societies are in the hands of a few who decide how they are used. But it’s also because economic power allows them to be politically powerful. We hear about this every day – from governments that are run by and for the wealthiest that make decisions to deepen a system that only benefits them (such as tax cuts while working people pay ever more) to aspiring presidential candidates whose only merit is having inherited fortunes that they use to cultivate a favourable public image.   This is not a new phenomenon. But the pattern is becoming increasingly clear: how the decisions of a few individuals are increasingly shaping the economic and political “rules of the game” – a game that, by its very nature, has worked for them.   The ultra-wealthy do this primarily in three ways: by buying political support, by investing in legitimising the power of the elites, and by guaranteeing themselves direct access to institutions. They are investing more and more money in elections and have greater control over the algorithms behind our newsfeeds and AI-generated content. Billionaires are also 4,000 times more likely to hold elected office than the average person. It’s one thing to buy a private jet or a mansion, but quite another to buy off a judge, a legislator, a social network or a newspaper.   In this way, governments end up siding with the wealthiest, prioritising the interests of big capital over the lives of billions of people around the world who not only remain in poverty or go hungry but also see their rights and freedoms increasingly repressed.   In short, governments have preferred oppression over redistribution, which is worrying because while economic poverty produces hunger, political poverty breeds anger and fear, a central driver (and tool of) authoritarian and reactionary politics.   It doesn’t have to be this way. These economic and political inequalities are the product of choices, so changing course to build a fairer future depends on making different economic and political decisions that place people, communities, and nature at the centre.   A growing political movement is demanding that governments drastically reduce economic inequalities, as well as curb the political power and influence of the ultra-wealthy. This is possible, for example, by effectively taxing their fortunes to reduce their economic power or by regulating lobbying practices and the algorithms that allow them to influence governments and societies.   It is urgent and necessary to resist the rule of the rich: to halt their growing power and influence and instead build a fairer economy while guaranteeing the future of our democracies. We can have extreme wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, or we can have democracy, but we cannot have both, as the US Supreme Court judge Louis Brandeis affirmed a century ago. The choice is ours: oligarchy or democracy?   http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/inequalities/2026/01/27/democracy-at-risk-resisting-the-rule-of-the-richest/ http://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/billionaire-wealth-jumps-three-times-faster-2025-highest-peak-ever http://www.oxfam.org/en/research/resisting-rule-rich Visit the related web page
	UN formally recognises transatlantic slave trade as a crime against humanity by United Nations News, agencies   25 Mar. 2026   UN resolution urges reparations for slavery’s ‘historical wrongs’. (UN News)   Applause erupted in the UN General Assembly Hall on Wednesday as Member States adopted a resolution declaring the transatlantic slave trade the gravest crime against humanity.   The resolution spearheaded by Ghana received 123 votes in favour. Three countries – Argentina, Israel and the United States – voted against and 52 abstained.   “Today, we come together in solemn solidarity to affirm truth and pursue a route to healing and reparative justice,” said Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama, speaking ahead of the vote on behalf of the 54-member African Group – the largest regional bloc at the UN.   For more than 400 years, millions of people were stolen from Africa, put in shackles and shipped to the New World to toil in cotton fields and sugar and coffee plantations under scorching heat and the crack of the whip.   Denied their basic humanity and even their own names, they were forced to endure generations of exploitation with repercussions that reverberate today including persistent anti-Black racism and discrimination.   The resolution emphasised “the trafficking of enslaved Africans and racialised chattel enslavement of Africans as the gravest crime against humanity by reason of the definitive break in world history, scale, duration, systemic nature, brutality and enduring consequences that continue to structure the lives of all people through racialized regimes of labour, property and capital.”   It affirmed the importance of addressing historical wrongs affecting Africans and people of the diaspora in a manner that promotes justice, human rights, dignity and healing, while emphasising that claims for reparations represent a concrete step towards remedy.   Mar. 2026   It’s time for the UN to formally recognise the transatlantic slave trade as a crime against humanity, by John Dramani Mahama.   This month my country, Ghana, celebrated its 69th independence day. In my address to the nation, I invoked the courage and conviction of our founding leaders, who stood firm in the face of immense adversity to secure our freedom. Kwame Nkrumah reminded us that political independence without transforming the global systems that shape our economies and opportunities remains incomplete.   It is in that spirit that, this month, Ghana will table a resolution at the United Nations general assembly calling for the formal recognition of one of the greatest moral tragedies in human history: the transatlantic trafficking and enslavement of Africans as a crime against humanity, and the need for a process of repair.   This initiative is not Ghana’s alone. It carries the support of the African Union, the Caribbean Community (Caricom), and a growing coalition of countries across the global south.   Together we seek not to reopen old wounds but to acknowledge them honestly, and to work collectively toward healing and justice in ways that strengthen our shared future.   The call for reparatory justice is not new. It is rooted in a long, continuous tradition of resistance, advocacy and moral reasoning spanning centuries. From early African leaders who protested against the capture and sale of their people, to the struggles of the Haitian revolution, and the post-independence movements that reshaped the modern world, the demand for justice has endured.   In recent decades this tradition has taken institutional form. The 1993 Abuja Proclamation recognised the enslavement and trafficking of Africans as an unprecedented crime. The Caricom Reparations Commission has articulated a comprehensive framework for reparatory justice.   The Accra Proclamation of 2023 reaffirmed Africa’s collective commitment to this cause. The African Union has now declared 2026 to 2035 as the Decade of Action on Reparations and African Heritage, underscoring the urgency and legitimacy of this global conversation.   Our proposal at the UN builds on these foundations. It seeks to move the international community from acknowledgment to action: from recognition of historical injustice to a structured dialogue on repair.   This is not about assigning collective guilt to present generations. Nor is it about revisiting history in a spirit of division. Rather, it is about understanding how historical injustices have shaped contemporary inequalities, and how a more honest reckoning can contribute to a fairer, more inclusive global order.   The transatlantic slave trade and the system it sustained disrupted societies, extracted human and economic value on an unprecedented scale, and left enduring legacies that continue to influence patterns of development, opportunity and vulnerability across the world. Recognising this history fully is essential, not only for Africa and its diaspora, but for humanity as a whole.   The international community has, in the past, taken important steps. The Durban Declaration and Programme of Action in 2001 acknowledged the transatlantic slave trade as a crime against humanity. Yet, more remains to be done to translate that recognition into meaningful dialogue and practical pathways for repair.   Africa brings to this conversation a perspective shaped by its own intellectual and moral traditions – one that holds that injustice does not simply fade with time, but requires deliberate effort to address and redress. This perspective aligns with the broader principles of international law and human rights, which affirm that certain wrongs demand enduring accountability.   At the heart of this effort is a commitment to partnership. The process we envision is one of engagement, bringing together states, institutions, scholars and communities to explore constructive and forward-looking approaches to reparatory justice.   These may include investments in education, health, cultural restoration and economic opportunity, designed to close enduring gaps and build shared prosperity.   We must also recognise the human dimension of this history, including how systems of enslavement entrenched inequalities that affected generations, particularly women and families.   A full accounting of this past requires us to acknowledge these dimensions and to ensure that any process of repair is inclusive and comprehensive.   The world today faces many interconnected challenges, from inequality and underdevelopment to the climate crisis and global instability. Addressing historical injustices is not separate from these challenges; it is part of building the trust and cooperation necessary to confront them together.   Ghana’s initiative at the UN is therefore an invitation – an invitation to engage in honest reflection, constructive dialogue and collective action. It is an invitation to move beyond acknowledgment toward meaningful steps that strengthen justice, dignity and shared progress.   For centuries, the voices calling for justice have endured across continents, across generations and across institutions. Today, we have an opportunity to listen, to respond and to act.   A crime of this magnitude calls not only for remembrance but for responsibility. And in meeting that responsibility together, we take a step toward a more just and united world.   * John Dramani Mahama is president of the Republic of Ghana   http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/mar/22/un-formally-recognise-transatlantic-slavery-trade-crime-against-humanity http://passblue.com/2026/03/25/a-un-resolution-urging-reparatory-justice-wins-backing-without-western-support/ http://news.un.org/en/story/2025/09/1165771 http://www.un.org/en/rememberslavery/   May 2025   ‘Justice is long overdue’: Guterres calls for reparations for enslavement and colonialism. (UN News)   UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres renewed his calls for Member states and the United Nations to work towards justice and reparations for Africans and the diaspora in a speech to the Africa Dialogue Series.   “Africa is a continent of boundless energy and possibility. But for too long, the colossal injustices inflicted by enslavement, the transatlantic slave trade and colonialism have been left unacknowledged and unaddressed,” he said.   The United Nations has repeatedly said that slavery and the transatlantic slave trade constituted crimes against humanity, and the Secretary-General has repeatedly called for redress for these injustices.   Speaking to the Africa Dialogue Series — which is focused on the theme of justice through reparations — the Secretary-General noted that the movement for reparatory justice is gaining momentum around the world as reflected by the declaration of the Second Decade for People of African Descent, which runs through 2035.   The last decade, which ended in 2024, yielded tangible results, with over 30 Member States revising laws to better tackle racial discrimination. However, the Secretary-General noted that much work remains.   “We point to the poisoned legacies of enslavement and colonialism, not to sow division but to heal them,” he said.   Mr. Guterres underlined the entrenched nature of racism and exploitative systems, saying that these systems have disadvantaged African countries and people of African descent beyond the end of colonialism and enslavement.   “Decolonization did not free African countries, or people of African descent, from the structures and prejudices that made those projects possible,” he said.   In fact, when the United Nations was founded and many of the global structures established, some African countries were still colonies. “When African countries gained their independence, they inherited a system built to serve others — not them,” the Secretary-General said.   The President of the UN General Assembly, Philemon Yang, underlined the importance of teaching this history through national education curricula. “Knowledge of our true history can serve as a powerful compass in our onward march towards progress,” he said.   To address the inequities of this system, the Secretary-General called upon the global community to take action on international financial systems which are burdening developing economies in Africa and the Caribbean. Specifically, he emphasized the importance of restructuring debt systems which are “suffocating” these countries’ economies.   UN reports have repeatedly noted that indebted poor countries are spending more on debt repayments than they do on health, education and infrastructure combined.   Mr. Guterres also called for massive investments into clean energy infrastructure in Africa which has been deeply impacted by climate change. “African countries did not cause the climate crisis. Yet the effects of our heating planet are wreaking havoc across the continent,” he said.   He reiterated his call for the establishment of a permanent Security Council position for an African Member State.   Mr. Yang, the General Assembly President, underlined the urgency of the Secretary-General’s remarks, urging member states to act. “Now is the moment to turn recommendations into rights, apologies into action and aspirations into accountability.”   http://news.un.org/en/story/2025/05/1163886 http://www.un.org/osaa/ads2025 http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/10/un-experts-call-reparatory-justice-enslavement-trade-enslaved-africans-and http://www.cesr.org/leading-voices-call-for-a-new-development-human-rights-centered-approach-to-sovereign-debt-at-paper-series-launch/ http://iej.org.za/category/resourcing-for-rights-realisation/resourcing-for-rights-realisation_debt-justice/ http://www.ohchr.org/en/statements-and-speeches/2025/02/asg-brands-kehris-current-international-debt-architecture-unfair http://www.srpoverty.org/2024/10/17/statement-international-financial-system-not-fit-for-purpose-to-address-catastrophic-debt-crisis-un-poverty-expert/ http://www.unaids.org/en/resources/presscentre/featurestories/2025/march/20250320_debt-crisis   http://sdg.iisd.org/commentary/guest-articles/african-unions-voice-at-the-icj-seeking-climate-justice/ http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/12/true-climate-justice-demands-a-reckoning-with-colonialism/ http://docs.un.org/en/a/74/321 http://www.srpoverty.org/2025/01/17/financing-social-protection-floors-contribution-of-the-special-rapporteur-to-ffd4/ http://reliefweb.int/report/world/human-cost-public-sector-cuts-africa-april-2025 http://actionaid.org/publications/2025/human-cost-public-cuts-africa http://www.ipsnews.net/2025/01/developing-countries-choked-debt-year-breaking-free/ http://debtjustice.org.uk/press-release/lower-income-country-debt-payments-hit-highest-level-in-30-years http://cafod.org.uk/campaign/the-new-debt-crisis http://tinyurl.com/y45jmkdd http://www.eurodad.org/g20_imf_world_bank_fail_debt_crisis   Apr. 2024   Africa and Caribbean unite on reparations. (Reuters)   Support is building among Africa and Caribbean nations for the creation of an international tribunal on atrocities dating to the transatlantic trade of enslaved people, with the United States backing a U.N. panel at the heart of the effort.   A tribunal, modelled on other ad-hoc courts such as the Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals after World War Two, was proposed last year. It has now gained traction within a broader slavery reparations movement, Reuters reporting based on interviews with a dozen people reveals.   Formally recommended in June by the U.N. Permanent Forum on People of African Descent, the idea of a special tribunal has been explored further at African and Caribbean regional bodies, said Eric Phillips, a vice-chair of the slavery reparations commission for the Caribbean Community, CARICOM, which groups 15 member states.   The scope of any tribunal has not been determined but the U.N. Forum recommended in a preliminary report that it should address reparations for enslavement, apartheid, genocide, and colonialism.   Advocates, including within CARICOM and the African Union (AU), which groups 55 nations across the continent, are working to build wider backing for the idea among U.N. members, Phillips said.   A special U.N. tribunal would help establish legal norms for complex international and historical reparations claims, its supporters say. Opponents of reparations argue, among other things, that contemporary states and institutions should not be held responsible for historical slavery.   Even its supporters recognise that establishing an international tribunal for slavery will not be easy.   There are "huge obstacles," said Martin Okumu-Masiga, Secretary-General of the Africa Judges and Jurists Forum (AJJF), which is providing reparations-related advice to the AU.   Hurdles include obtaining the cooperation of nations that were involved in the trade of enslaved people and the legal complexities of finding responsible parties and determining remedies.   "These things happened many years ago and historical records and evidence can be challenging to access and even verify," Okumo-Masiga said.   Unlike the Nuremberg trials, nobody directly involved in transatlantic slavery is alive.   Asked about the idea of a tribunal, a spokesperson for the British Foreign Office acknowledged the country's role in transatlantic slavery, but said it had no plan to pay reparations. Instead, past wrongs should be tackled by learning lessons from history and tackling "today's challenges," the spokesperson said.   However, advocates for reparations say Western countries and institutions that continue to benefit from the wealth slavery generated should be held accountable, particularly given ongoing legacies of racial discrimination.   A tribunal would help establish an "official record of history," said Brian Kagoro, a Zimbabwean lawyer who has been advocating for reparations for over two decades.   Racism, impoverishment and economic underdevelopment are linked to the longstanding consequences of transatlantic slavery from the United States to Europe and the African continent, according to U.N. studies.   "These legacies are alive and well," said Clive Lewis, a British Labour MP and a descendant of people enslaved in the Caribbean nation of Grenada.   Black people "live in poorer and more polluted areas, they have worse diets, they have worse educational outcomes... because structural racism is embedded deep."   The proposal for a tribunal was discussed in November at a reparations summit in Ghana attended by African and Caribbean leaders.   The Ghana summit ended with a commitment to explore judicial routes, including "litigation options."   Africa's most populous nation, Nigeria, is in favour of the push for a tribunal, Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar told Reuters in February, saying the country would support the idea "until it becomes a reality."   In Grenada, where hundreds of thousands were enslaved, Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell is "in full support," a spokesperson said, describing the tribunal as a CARICOM-led initiative.   Phillips said the work to establish a tribunal would have to take place through the United Nations system and include conversations with countries, including Portugal, Britain, France, Spain, Netherlands and Denmark, that were involved in trading enslaved people to the Caribbean and other regions.   Reuters could not establish how many countries in Africa and the Caribbean were likely to support the idea.   Among the tribunal's most vocal advocates is Justin Hansford, a Howard University law professor backed by the U.S. State Department to serve at the U.N. forum. He said the idea will be discussed at the forum's third session, starting April 16, due to be attended by 50 or more nations.   Hansford then plans to travel to Africa to lobby for further support, with the goal of raising the proposal with stronger backing during the U.N. General Assembly in September, he told Reuters.   "A lot of my work now is to try to help make it a reality," he said of the tribunal, saying it could take three to five years to get it off the ground.   The U.N. leadership has come out in support for reparations, which have been used in other circumstances to offset large moral and economic debts, such as to Japanese Americans interned by the United States during World War Two and to families of Holocaust survivors.   "We call for reparatory justice frameworks, to help overcome generations of exclusion and discrimination," U.N. General Secretary Antonio Guterres said on March 25, in his most direct public comments yet on the issue.   "No country with a legacy of enslavement, the trade in enslaved Africans, or colonialism has fully reckoned with the past, or comprehensively accounted for the impacts on the lives of people of African descent today," said Liz Throssell, spokesperson for the U.N. Human Rights office, in response to a question about the tribunal.   The Netherlands apologised for its role in transatlantic slavery last year and announced a roughly $200 million fund to address that past. A spokesperson for the foreign ministry said it was not aware of the discussions around a tribunal and could not respond to questions.   The French government declined to comment. The governments of Portugal, Spain and Denmark did not respond to requests for comment.   The push for a tribunal stems in part from a belief that claims need to be enshrined in a legal framework, said Okumu-Masiga, of the Africa Judges and Jurists Forum.   Several institutions, including the European Union, have concluded that transatlantic slavery was a crime against humanity.   After the 1940s Nuremberg trials, the U.N. formalised the structure of special tribunals - criminal courts set up on an ad-hoc basis to investigate serious international crimes, such as crimes against humanity.   The U.N. has since established two: one to prosecute those responsible for the 1994 Rwandan genocide and another to prosecute war crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s.   The Rwanda and Yugoslavia tribunals were established by the U.N. Security Council, however the International Criminal Court, another international U.N. tribunal, was founded through a General Assembly resolution, a possible route for a slavery reparations tribunal, Hansford said.   Okumu-Masiga said affected countries, descendents of enslaved people and indigenous groups could be potential claimants, while defendants could include nations and institutions with historic links to slavery or even descendants of enslavers.   An international tribunal is not the only judicial path available.   At a summit of Caribbean countries in February this year, the gathered prime ministers and presidents proposed working with the AU to request an ICJ advisory legal opinion on reparations through the U.N. General Assembly, a source familiar with the matter at CARICOM said.   Makmid Kamara, founder of the Accra-based civil society group Reforms Initiatives that works with the AU on reparatory justice, said decisions on which route to take would be made based on that advisory by the ICJ.   From the 15th to the late 19th century, at least 12.5 million enslaved Africans were forcibly transported by mainly European but also U.S. and Brazilian-flagged ships and sold into slavery.   Before pushing for the abolition of slavery, Britain transported an estimated 3.2 million people, the most active European country after Portugal, which enslaved nearly 6 million.   Those who survived the brutal voyage ended up toiling on plantations under inhumane conditions in the Americas, mostly in Brazil, the Caribbean and the United States, while others profited from their labour.   Calls for reparations started with enslaved people themselves.   "They ran away, they raised their voices in songs of protests, they fought wars of resistance," said Verene A. Sheperd, director of the centre for reparation research at the University of West Indies.   The movement later garnered support from quarters as varied as U.S. civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and the Caribbean's Rastafarians. In the past year, some of the world's largest institutions have added their voices.   Ghana led efforts to get African support for formally pursuing reparations, with Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa also taking up the cause, said Kamara.   Most discussion has focused on transatlantic trafficking, Hansford and Phillips said, rather than the older trans-Saharan trade to the Islamic world, estimated to have transported several million enslaved Africans.   What reparations would consist of in practice is debated. Some, including in the United States, have pushed for individual payments to descendants of enslaved people. CARICOM, in a 2014 plan, called for debt cancellation and support from European nations to tackle public health and economic crises.   The AU decision to join CARICOM has given new heft to the campaign, said Jasmine Mickens, a U.S.- based strategist for social movements who specialises in reparations.   The AU is now developing Africa's own white paper on what reparations might look like, said Okumu-Masiga.   "We have a global community behind this message," said Mickens, who attended the Ghana event. "That's something this movement has never seen before."   (Reporting by Catarina Demony in Lisbon; Additional reporting by Felix Onuah in Abuja, Maxwell Akalaare Adombila in Accra, John Irish in Paris and Lissandra Paraguassu in Brasilia)   * UN report on financial reparations for transatlantic slavery: http://tinyurl.com/3uce7wku   http://www.reuters.com/world/slavery-tribunal-africa-caribbean-unite-reparations-2024-04-04 http://www.hrw.org/news/2025/06/19/why-reparations-qa http://www.hrw.org/news/2024/11/18/africans-and-people-african-descent-call-europe-reckon-their-colonial-legacies http://www.hrw.org/news/2024/11/14/europe-has-yet-address-colonial-legacies-0 http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/09/urgent-push-needed-achieve-reparatory-justice-africans-and-people-african http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/03/un-experts-urge-states-recognise-and-address-legacy-slave-trade http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/09/strong-leadership-and-political-will-crucial-ensure-reparatory-justice http://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/hrbodies/hrcouncil/forums/forum-african-descent/sessions/session1/statements/2023-01-23/Michael-McEachrane-Reparatory-Justice.pdf http://views-voices.oxfam.org.uk/2025/01/reparations-gender-justice/   Sep. 2023   A UN report calling on countries to consider financial reparations for transatlantic slavery has been hailed as a significant step forward by campaigners.   The report by the UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres, said no country had comprehensively accounted for the past and addressed the legacy of the mass enslavement of people of African descent for more than 400 years.   “Under international human rights law, compensation for any economically assessable damage, as appropriate and proportional to the gravity of the violation and the circumstances of each case, may also constitute a form of reparations,” the report said.   “In the context of historical wrongs and harms suffered as a result of colonialism and enslavement, the assessment of the economic damage can be extremely difficult owing to the length of time passed and the difficulty of identifying the perpetrators and victims.”   The report stressed, however, that the difficulty in making a legal claim to compensation “cannot be the basis for nullifying the existence of underlying legal obligations”.   Michael McEachrane, a researcher and member of the UN permanent forum on people of African descent, said the report was “a huge step forward”, adding it came amid significant recent activity on the international stage.   McEachrane said: “There seems to be a big emphasis on reparations as a matter of financial compensation in the report. Various initiatives at the UN level, including the Caricom call for reparatory justice, moves way beyond a conception of reparations as a matter of financial compensation.   “There is no financial compensation for 500 years of enslavement and colonialism, and what most of us are calling for is a systemic and structural transformation.”   A recent report by the UN permanent forum on people of African descent, which was sent to the human rights council and general assembly, also called for reparative justice.   McEachrane said: “To address the lasting consequences of these histories – in terms of inequities, structural and systemic injustices, lack of equal enjoyment of human dignity and rights – that will include financing, but the point is not the financial compensation, but the structural and systemic transformation.”   The secretary general’s report concluded that states should consider a “plurality of measures” to address the legacies of enslavement and colonialism, including pursuing justice and reparations, and contributing to reconciliation.   http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/09/strong-leadership-and-political-will-crucial-ensure-reparatory-justice http://tinyurl.com/3uce7wku   Aug. 2023   UK cannot ignore calls for slavery reparations, says leading UN judge. (Guardian News)   A leading judge at the international court of justice has said the UK will no longer be able to ignore the growing calls for reparation for transatlantic slavery.   Judge Patrick Robinson, who presided over the trial of the former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, said the international tide on slavery reparations was quickly shifting and urged the UK to change its current position on the issue.   “They cannot continue to ignore the greatest atrocity, signifying man’s inhumanity to man. They cannot continue to ignore it. Reparations have been paid for other wrongs and obviously far more quickly, far more speedily than reparations for what I consider the greatest atrocity and crime in the history of mankind: transatlantic chattel slavery,” Robinson said.   “I believe that the United Kingdom will not be able to resist this movement towards the payment of reparations: it is required by history and it is required by law.”   Robinson spoke exclusively to the Guardian ahead of Unesco’s Day for Remembering the Transatlantic Slave Trade and Abolition. He is scheduled to make the keynote address at the London mayor’s office to mark the day.   The event follows the key role that Robinson played in writing and compiling the Brattle Group Report on Reparations for Transatlantic Chattel Slavery, which was published in June. The report, which has been described as the most comprehensive state-to-state reparations analysis, identifies the reparations that are due in respect of 31 countries in which transatlantic slavery was practised.   The study estimates that trillions of dollars are owed in reparations to countries affected by transatlantic slavery. The report, which was published by the University of the West Indies after a symposium held by the American Society of International Law, concludes that the UK alone is required to pay a sum of $24tn (£18.8tn) as reparations for transatlantic slavery in 14 countries. Of that sum, about $9.6tn is due to Jamaica. The report uses calculations made by the Brattle Group, which factors in the wealth and GDP amassed by countries that enslaved African people.   When asked if the high figures came as a surprise, Robinson said no. “These calculations are not over a period of five years or 10 years. They cover the entire duration of transatlantic chattel slavery, which means they cover hundreds of years. What is more, reparations have never been paid. So the calculations begin from day one of transatlantic chattel slavery, that is hundreds of years; and that alone explains the high figures.”   To address the figures, Robinson said the report proposed that payments be made over a longer period of time, between 10 and 25 years, rather than instantly.   At the launch of the report at the University of the West Indies in Kingston Jamaica, PJ Patterson, a former prime minister of Jamaica, reportedly said that reparations were owed to Jamaica and the other countries affected by transatlantic slavery, and would not rule out bringing the issue to courts.   On achieving reparations through international courts, Robinson said: “It’s possible, but frankly, I think the greater probability is for a settlement on a political diplomatic basis, which takes into account the relevant legal considerations … But I don’t rule out court proceedings.”   In April, the UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, refused to apologise for the UK’s role in the slave trade or to commit to paying reparations.   Robinson said: “I have the highest regard for the prime minister of the United Kingdom, but I believe the stance that he has taken is regrettable and I very much hope that he will reconsider it.   “The tide is changing, the political tide, the global tide is moving. The United Kingdom – including both principle parties, the Conservative party and the Labour party and the other parties, which are just as important – need to take into account that movement is a movement in favour of reparations. The transatlantic chattel slavery is the greatest atrocity in the history of humankind without parallel for its brutality, without parallel for its length over 400 years, without parallel for its profitability.”   http://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/22/uk-cannot-ignore-calls-for-slavery-reparations-says-leading-un-judge-patrick-robinson http://www.brattle.com/insights-events/publications/brattle-consultants-quantify-reparations-for-transatlantic-chattel-slavery-in-pro-bono-paper/ http://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/17/african-and-caribbean-nations-agree-move-to-seek-reparations-for-slavery http://globalvoices.org/2023/12/02/a-movement-is-growing-across-africa-and-diaspora-demanding-reparations-for-the-impacts-of-slavery-and-colonialism/ http://africanarguments.org/2024/11/a-robbery-on-so-large-a-scale-140-years-after-the-berlin-west-africa-conference/ http://www.ohchr.org/en/statements/2023/12/un-experts-urge-shift-towards-human-rights-economy-prevent-contemporary-forms   http://www.un.org/en/un-chronicle/legacy-slavery-caribbean-and-journey-towards-justice http://courier.unesco.org/en/articles/deep-legacy-slavery http://news.un.org/en/story/2024/04/1148166 http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jul/02/tulsa-race-massacre-survivors-ask-biden-investigate http://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/carr/publications/global-anti-blackness-and-legacy-transatlantic-slave-trade http://www.hrw.org/news/2025/03/18/submission-un-committee-elimination-racial-discrimination http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations/361631/ http://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/Racism/SR/A_74_231_Reparations__SR_Racism.pdf Visit the related web page
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