Leaders of the Commonwealth have agreed that it is time for a discussion about reparations for the slave trade, despite the UK’s wish to avoid the subject at a two-day conference in Samoa. This statement was signed by 56 heads of government, including UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. It recognises calls for a conversation about “discussions on reparatory justice” for the abhorrent transatlantic slave trade. The statement calls for a meaningful, truthful and respectful conversation about this sensitive topic.
Sir Keir Starmer clarified at a press conference that there were no discussions about money at the meeting and the UK is “very clear” that it would not pay reparations. Though campaigners have been calling for an apology and financial compensation, reparations can take many forms, from financial to symbolic. It is not just the UK Government that has been resisting these calls; before the statement was released, the leaders’ conclave, where Commonwealth prime ministers and presidents meet without advisers, went on for six hours.
Downing Street had already made it clear that the issue of reparations would not be included at the summit, but the joint statement was unavoidable since more than half of the Commonwealth countries represented at the summit were asking for the subject to be addressed. However, the statement only contains one paragraph out of over 20 paragraphs, and the summit was spent mainly discussing topics such as resilience and climate change. Leading up to the summit, Chancellor Rachel Reeves informed the BBC that the UK would not pay reparations for slavery.
The prime minister did acknowledge that the “next opportunity to look at this” would be at the UK-Caribbean forum. The foreign minister of the Bahamas, Frederick Mitchell, said that leaders at the summit hope to generate a “comprehensive report” on the issue at that forum. Even though some think that reparatory justice should be financial compensation only, it can take other forms, such as a public apology, educational programmes or public health assistance. It seems that reparatory justice will be a central focus of the agenda at the next Commonwealth summit in two years’ time
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