Barbados prime minister announces manifesto for slavery reparations

Mia Mottley, the prime minister of Barbados, on Thursday at the conference on the next steps in seeking compensation from the UK and European countries for slavery. Photograph: Ernest Ankomah/Getty Images View image in fullscreen Mia Mottley, the prime minister of Barbados, on Thursday at the conference on the next steps in seeking compensation from the UK and European countries for slavery. Photograph: Ernest Ankomah/Getty Images Barbados prime minister announces manifesto for slavery reparations Updated document, which emphasises harm done to African women, is being considered by other Caribbean countries Barbados’s prime minister, Mia Mottley, has announced a new manifesto from Caribbean leaders asserting the “moral, ethical and legal case” for reparations over damage caused by hundreds of years of enslavement. Mottley was speaking at a “historic” conference in Ghana to advance the push for reparatory justice after the United Nations adopted a landmark resolution declaring the trafficking of enslaved Africans as the gravest crime against humanity. The manifesto, which she distributed at the conference, is an update of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) 10-point plan for reparations from former colonial powers. It introduces new issues including the disproportionate impact of slavery on girls and women. Ghana to advance reparatory justice at first major gathering since landmark UN resolution Read more The plan includes a new specific call for compensation for gender-based violence, referencing data that suggests “women represented approximately 30% of the estimated 20 million Africans forcefully transported across the Atlantic Ocean”. It also mentions estimates that at least 1.2 million enslaved women experienced sexual violence. Highlighting the update, Mottley said that “the compensation for gender-based violence and assault on family” is “no different from the compensation that has been awarded to other nationalities such as the Japanese”. The draft, which has been seen by the Guardian, asserts that climate justice and slavery reparations are “inextricably linked” , and stresses the need for a plan to support indigenous people who were in the Caribbean when Europeans arrived and were the subject of genocides. The document, which is still to be rubber-stamped by Caribbean governments, makes it clear that Caricom is demanding monetary compensation, in addition to other forms of repair such as a full and formal apology, from Britain and other European countries, and education and training. “Caricom demands monetary compensation as reparations from enslaving nations, monarchies, churches, institutions, corporations and families, for loss of life and uncompensated labour, loss of liberty, personal injury, mental pain and anguish and gender-based violence, for the victims of Indigenous genocide, the trans-Atlantic trafficking of enslaved Africans and chattel enslavement of Africans, which constitute grave Crimes against Humanity,” the document says