Caribbean figures say debt relief and aid cannot replace slavery reparations

Leading figures in the Caribbean reparatory justice movement have said that debt relief and development assistance offered by the United Kingdom cannot stand in for reparations for centuries of slavery. The comments were made during the Commonwealth summit in Antigua, where leaders of the 56-member bloc are holding a private retreat.

They follow an announcement on Friday by British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who said he wanted to begin a structured dialogue on slavery and reparations and was open to an apology, but ruled out reparations. He instead proposed talks on debt resets for smaller Commonwealth nations and announced £40m ($54m) for critical infrastructure in the Caribbean over three years.

Cancellation, not restructuring

Ralph Gonsalves, a former prime minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines and a senior figure in the Repair Campaign, said Caribbean countries would likely welcome Burnham's offer but would resist treating debt restructuring or development aid as reparation. The 10-point plan drawn up by the Caribbean Community's reparations commission asks specifically for debt cancellation and monetary compensation, arguing that former colonies' debts are tied to centuries of colonial extraction.

Gonsalves noted that many of the items mentioned by Burnham and the king, such as debt relief, education, health and climate infrastructure, appear in the 10-point plan but also in the UN sustainable development goals of 2015. He warned that such assistance remains discretionary on the UK's part. The plan also covers matters needing separate funding, including repatriation to African countries for those who wish it.

Call for a say for affected communities

Bell Ribeiro-Addy, a Labour MP who chairs the House of Commons all-party parliamentary group for Afrikan Reparations, spoke on Tuesday at the launch of a global reparations caravan. She said the issue is about agency, since enslaved people were deprived of their right to decide their own lives, and that arrangements made without those affected are not reparative justice.

Prof Kingsley Abbott, a human rights lawyer and director of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London, also stressed that harmed communities should have a decisive say in what reparations involve.

A Foreign Office spokesperson said the prime minister wants to renew the Commonwealth's relevance by facing the past together, and that the UK will keep working with partners on global debt, the climate crisis and economic development.