London — Caribbean leaders hope Britain’s new Labour government will shift its long-standing position on slavery reparations and agree to discuss how to address the legacy of these past wrongs.
Consecutive British governments have rejected calls for reparations, but Caribbean reparations commission (Caricom) chair Hilary Beckles says this stance might change under British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour government.
In 2016, the 15-member Caricom, which includes Jamaica and Barbados, sent letters to former European colonial powers including Britain requesting a meeting on reparations. None agreed to it but renewed calls are expected soon.
“It is our intention to persist with this strategy of calling for a summit (with European nations) to work through what a reparatory justice model ought to look like in the case of the Caribbean,” Beckles said this week.
Caricom has its own reparations plan, which calls for a formal apology from European countries, debt cancellation and technology transfers, among other measures.
Britain’s new foreign secretary, David Lammy, is of Caribbean descent and refers to himself as a descendant of enslaved people. Lammy told The Guardian newspaper before the election his family history would inform his work.
“He [Lammy] has been a supporter of the [reparations] discourse while he was in opposition,” Beckles said. “The question is whether he would be given a free hand in his government... to take the matter to a higher level.”
The Foreign Office did not comment on the government’s position on reparations, but last year a Labour spokesperson said reparations were not party policy.
While the issue has been gaining momentum worldwide, it remains deeply disputed.
Starmer travels to Samoa for a Commonwealth heads of government meeting later this month where reparations are expected to be on the agenda.
All three candidates running to be the next secretary-general of the Commonwealth, a 56-nation club headed by Britain’s King Charles, support reparations.
Reuters
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