DistantNews
Support us
🇯🇲 Jamaica /Culture & Society

Grange to file slavery reparations petition during UK visit

From Jamaica Observer · () English

Summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Official statement New plan
  • Jamaican Culture Minister Olivia Grange will lead a delegation filing a petition to King Charles III over reparations for slavery.
  • The petition asks the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council to refer three legal questions about the transatlantic slave trade to Jamaica’s highest court of appeal.
  • Jamaica also plans to discuss the return of colonial-era artefacts with British Museum officials, while Britain has not committed to reparations.

Jamaica is taking its reparations campaign to London, where Culture Minister Olivia Grange will lead a government delegation filing a petition addressed to King Charles III.

The petition will ask the king, Jamaica’s head of state, to refer three questions to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the London-based body that serves as the country’s highest court of appeal. Jamaica wants an advisory opinion on whether the enslavement of Africans in Jamaica was legal under English law, whether it violated international law and whether Britain now has a legal duty to provide redress.

The culture ministry said the delegation would advance Jamaica’s campaign for reparations for the African ancestors who endured centuries of enslavement. Grange said the petition was “intended to ensure the long outstanding settlement for the hundreds of years of the most horrific abuse that our African ancestors endured”. Jamaica says this is the first time a Commonwealth country has used this legal route to pursue reparations.

intended to ensure the long outstanding settlement for the hundreds of years of the most horrific abuse that our African ancestors endured

· Olivia GrangeThe Jamaican culture minister described the purpose of the petition seeking reparations.

Buckingham Palace said it understood that the Jamaican government was seeking to have the petition heard before the Judicial Committee. The palace added that King Charles had repeatedly expressed his “personal and wholehearted commitment to promoting greater understanding around the issue of slavery and finding ways to address historic wrongs for the benefit of communities today”.

Grange will also meet officials at the British Museum to discuss returning artefacts from the colonial era. Modern British royals have expressed remorse for the slave trade, which enriched their ancestors, but Britain has stopped short of a formal apology or a commitment to reparations. At a 2024 summit in Samoa, Commonwealth countries called for states including Britain to address the trade’s legacy and begin discussions on compensation.

personal and wholehearted commitment to promoting greater understanding around the issue of slavery and finding ways to address historic wrongs for the benefit of communities today

· Buckingham Palace spokesmanThe palace described King Charles’s position on slavery and historic wrongs.
About this summary

Originally published by Jamaica Observer. Summarized and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

More Stories

From Our Blog