Caribbean Community (Caricom) nations, led by Jamaica, are tweaking their approach to demands for reparations for the transAtlantic slave trade by moving to ask Britain’s final court whether it thinks slavery was lawful.
Recently, Jamaica’s cabinet decided to take a different approach to the issue by heading straight to Britain’s highest court, asking it for a definitive ruling about whether slavery and the forced transport of people from Africa was a lawful act and/or a crime against humanity.
Culture Minister Olivia Grange first announced the new tactic during parliamentary debates and, from all indications, the remaining nations in the 15-member bloc and associates — like Bermuda and the Cayman Islands — have all signed on to the initiative.
Jamaica also took the issue to last week’s regional leaders’ summit and received unanimous support for the measure. The leaders had been in Jamaica for their main summit, where a series of issues, including the fight for reparations, were discussed.
“I’m pleased to report that there was broad support for Jamaica moving forward with a petition to King Charles III, in his capacity as Jamaica’s Head of State, to seek a formal ruling from the Privy Council on whether the Atlantic enslavement of Africans was lawful under common law and whether local laws supporting it were invalid,” according to Caricom chair and Prime Minister of Jamaica Dr. Andrew Holness.
Holness also said that the umbrella Caribbean Reparations Commission (CRC) has a similar legal initiative linked to broader development issues. “Both strategies reinforce each other, and it was agreed therefore that Jamaica could move forward. Through the use of this legal route to challenge the historical legality of slavery and assert claims for reparation, this petition will mark a watershed moment for Caricom and the broader global movement for reparatory justice,” he said.
The announcement has come when the effort by the region to get former European slave trading nations to even listen to regional pleas and requests to commence talks about reparations appeared to have been flagging in recent months, but Holness said things are about to change.
Grange argued that Jamaica is using the authority of the king, who has the power to take issues of prime importance to the British Privy Council for rulings. King Charles is still the island nation’s head of state because Jamaica is not yet a republic, so the cabinet has decided to capitalize on this route to win an opinion for the country’s appellate court.
“We are taking our demand for reparations from the United Kingdom for the enslavement of our African ancestors into another phase,” Grange said. This is a legal approach that does not, in any way, conflict with the political approach as posited through negotiation, suggesting that Britain is “under an obligation to provide a remedy to Jamaica,” not only for slavery but for what she termed as slavery’s “enduring consequences” as well.
Regional leaders have tried an array of ideas to get Europe to listen and engage, even sending demand payment letters, most of which have gone unanswered; hiring a British law firm to research the case and pronounce on its merits; asking for a summit with Europe to discuss slavery and its consequences; and working on research to bolster their case.
So far, the Dutch government has issued two formal apologies for its role in the slave trade and has left the door open for talks on reparations. Britain, on the other hand, through then Prince Charles, has spoken about remorse but has so far flatly refused to discuss payments in any form for slavery.