United Nations chief Antonio Guterres is calling for reparations over the transatlantic slave trade “to help overcome generations of exclusion and discrimination.”
On Monday (March 25), Guterres made the call for reparations amid the U.N. International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery, per Reuters.
Guterres said the transatlantic slave trade “laid the foundations for a violent discrimination system based on white supremacy.”
“We call for reparatory justice frameworks to help overcome generations of exclusion and discrimination,” the U.N. chief said.
Experts say at least 12.5 million Africans were kidnapped, forcibly transported by European ships and merchants, and sold into slavery between the 15th and 19th centuries. A U.N. report released in September suggested countries consider slavery reparations.
“This is the movement that will signal, finally, the collective victory of humanity, of good over evil,” Hilary Beckles, chair of the reparations commission of the Caribbean Community Political and Economic Union (CARICOM), previously said at the U.N. General Assembly.
The CARICOM reparations commission seeks reparations from former colonial powers like the United Kingdom, France, and Portugal.
Verene Shepherd, Director of the Centre for Reparation Research at the University of the West Indies, said it was time for “Britain and other former and current colonial powers to own up to their responsibility,” per Reuters.
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