Jamaican delegates arrive in UK to hand slavery reparations petition to King Charles

Olivia Grange (right) said the petition’s ask – that Charles request legal advice from the privy council – was critical to progressing the reparations claim. Composite: PA, Getty ImagesView image in fullscreenOlivia Grange (right) said the petition’s ask – that Charles request legal advice from the privy council – was critical to progressing the reparations claim.

Composite: PA, Getty ImagesCotton Capital: ongoing seriesJamaicaJamaican delegates arrive in UK to hand slavery reparations petition to King CharlesSlavery’s legacy continues ‘to deprive our country and our people’, says minister, as group prepares to appeal to Jamaica’s head of state.

Uma petição histórica será entregue ao Rei Charles pelos jamaicanos em relação a reparações pela escravidão, visando confrontar crimes históricos que ainda prejudicam as antigas colônias britânicas, disse o ministro da Cultura da nação caribenha.

The petition will be lodged with Charles, Jamaica’s head of state, on Monday.

First announced in June last year, the petition asks the monarch to use his authority to request legal advice from the judicial committee of the London-based privy council, the final court of appeal for UK overseas territories and some Commonwealth countries.

Ele quer que Charles pergunte se o transporte forçado de africanos para Jamaica foi legal, se constituía um crime contra a humanidade, e se a Grã-Bretanha está sob obrigação de fornecer restituição à Jamaica pela escravidão e suas consequências duradouras.

Grange said that these questions and a privy council response were critical to progressing the country’s reparations claims.

Between the 15th and 19th centuries, more than 12. 5 million Africans were kidnapped, forcibly transported to the Americas and sold into slavery.

Grange said that Jamaica had been the first Caribbean nation to create a national reparations mechanism, establishing it in 2009. She said the aim was to address the enduring impacts of slavery, that put countries such as Jamaica at a grave economic disadvantage and affected its ability to respond to modern-day challenges in the Caribbean, such as the climate crisis.

Ralph Gonsalves, ex‑primeiro‑ministro de St Vincent e as Grenadines, que foi fundamental na criação da Comissão de Reparações da Comunidade do Caribe, ecoou os sentimentos de Grange.

He said Jamaica’s visit was a critical milestone among a number of upcoming events, including a Caribbean reparations conference in Barbados later this month, and planned advocacy at the upcoming UN general assembly in late September and the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in Antigua in November, which King Charles is scheduled to attend.

Começando com a própria história do Guardian, os jornalistas do Guardian investigam os legados da escravidão e da justiça reparadora em todo o mundo.

There are growing global calls for Britain and other former colonial powers to recognise hundreds of years of transatlantic slavery that treated African people as chattel as a crime, and to engage in a process of reparatory justice.

In March this year, 123 nations voted for a landmark UN resolution that described chattel slavery as the gravest crime against humanity. In June, the Caribbean launched a manifesto outlining the “moral, ethical and legal case for reparations”.

And last month, a UN committee on the elimination of racial discrimination said countries were legally obliged to consider reparations for the transatlantic slave trade and take other ⁠measures to address the enduring ⁠legacy of racial ​discrimination.

O Reino Unido foi um dos vários países europeus que se abstiveram de votar na resolução da ONU de março, e em outubro de 2024, o ex‑primeiro‑ministro britânico Keir Starmer resistiu à pressão de estados‑membros para incluir reparações na agenda da reunião dos chefes de governo do Commonwealth.

Grange said she hoped the visit would facilitate a unifying response to the complicated history.

On Sunday, the delegation will host a remembrance church service in Brixton, and later in the week they are due to meet UK members of parliament. Grange said there would also be a visit to the British Museum, to discuss repatriation of Jamaican artefacts.

She said: “We may have different history, different heritage, different skin colour, but it’s about humanity. It’s about, as a people, being able to live together, to work together, and to respect each other.