A recently-held UN forum on African descent urged urgent action to compensate Africa and the African diaspora for the enduring legacies of colonialism,enslavement,apartheid and genocide between the 16th and 19th centuries.
The forum brought together governments,civil society and regional organizations who discussed in New York the elaboration of a system to compensate people with African descent for the kidnapping of nearly 12.5 million people who were sold into slavery from the 15th to the 19th centuries.
“With a strengthened partnership with the AU,the global reparations movement is at a defining moment and inflection point marked by a united global Africa finally coming together to speak with one voice on seeking justice for Africans and people of African descent,” Hilary Brown,speaking on behalf of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) told the Forum.
She highlighted the strengthened partnership between CARICOM and the African Union (AU) whose 2025 theme is “Justice for Africans and the People of African Descent through reparations.”
In remarks prepared for him at the opening of the Permanent Forum,Secretary-General António Guterres said the international community must strive for “reparatory justice frameworks grounded in international human rights law,developed with the inclusive and meaningful participation of affected communities” that redress past wrongdoing and acknowledge not just past harms but ongoing injustices resulting from racism.
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