A global framework on reparatory justice was adopted at a conference in Accra, Ghana, as part of the three-day event titled "Next Steps." This was the first major meeting since the United Nations passed a historic resolution recognizing the transatlantic slave trade as the most serious crime against humanity.
The document outlines an 18-point strategic roadmap for reparatory justice, including a commitment to ensure fair and adequate compensation for Africans and people of African descent, particularly those affected by the legacy of slavery, colonialism, genocide, and racial discrimination. The framework also calls for accelerating the return of cultural property, human remains, archival documents, and heritage to their countries of origin.
Another key point is the call for multilateral measures to address sovereign debt burdens, including debt forgiveness, restructuring, and cancellation to remedy the long-lasting socio-economic consequences of slavery, colonialism, and related historical injustices.
"We acknowledge and honor the extensive multi-generational efforts of many governments, intergovernmental organizations, ancestors, individuals, and civil society partners across Africa, the Caribbean, the Americas, as well as Europe and Asia in shaping the global reparations agenda," the participants stated in the document. "We adopt this document as a foundation for global cooperation and commit to engaging in transparent, constructive, and good-faith dialogue to advance reparations and reparatory justice among all state and non-state actors."
Ruth Ogbewekon, project lead on reparatory justice at the Pan African Lawyers Union, who helped draft the document, said the process aimed to be inclusive to harness the momentum of the UN resolution toward a global movement for reparatory justice. She added that representatives from Africa, the African diaspora, and non-African allies were consulted over several weeks.
The conference also saw the establishment of three global councils on reparatory justice and restitution. Specifically, Ghanaian President John Mahama announced the creation of an advisory council on reparatory justice, an expert council on the restitution of artifacts, and a legal council on reparatory justice. The advisory council includes leaders from countries historically linked to the transatlantic slave trade in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean, such as the presidents of Ghana, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, and the presidents of Liberia, Namibia, and Senegal.
Speaking at the conference, President Mahama, who also serves as Honorary President of the African Union on Reparations, emphasized that the adoption of the UN resolution aims to create a foundation for more meaningful engagement, reflection, and action on reparatory justice. He called for broader global cooperation, noting that the Caribbean Community's (Caricom) 10-point reparations plan would be an important starting point for the new councils. "The crime we seek to address has a multi-continental scope, its consequences remain trans-continental in impact, and therefore, the search for justice must also be trans-continental in ambition," he said.
Prime Minister Mottley announced amendments to the Caricom 10-point plan to account for the disproportionate impact of slavery on girls and women, encouraging a coordinated global effort. Liberian President Joseph Boakai Sr. urged delegates not to let this conference become just another meeting or resolution that briefly stirs consciences before fading into history.
The three-day event attracted heads of state, ministers, civil society representatives, historians, researchers, and legal experts from over 80 countries. The conference took place nearly three months after the UN General Assembly adopted Ghana's proposal on behalf of African Union member states, recognizing the African slave trade as the most serious crime against humanity.
