Jamaica Seeks Reparations for Slavery, Petition to Be Sent to King Charles III

Jamaica is asking King Charles III to refer three questions about slavery on the island to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, opening a new legal stage in its reparations campaign.

The government wants the committee to determine whether the enslavement of Africans in Jamaica complied with English law, whether it violated international law, and whether Britain now has a legal obligation to pay reparations. Culture Minister Olivia Grange said the petition does not seek a specified amount. It will be submitted to the king and then referred to the committee.

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Once we receive answers to these questions, it will be possible to determine the next steps.

“Once we receive answers to these questions, it will be possible to determine the next steps,” Grange said. She said the answers could help address what she called “hundreds of years of the most terrifying abuses experienced by our African ancestors”.

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Hundreds of years of the most terrifying abuses experienced by our African ancestors.

The issue also draws on the financial history of emancipation. After slavery was abolished across most of the British Empire in 1833, the British government allocated £20 million in compensation to slave owners. Loans taken out for those payments were finally repaid in 2015.

“Until 2015, Britain was repaying obligations incurred to pay slave owners because we were treated as their property,” Grange said. “If in modern times we were still repaying slave owners for the loss of the property that our ancestors were, why should we not now seek some form of compensation?”

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If in modern times we were still repaying slave owners for the loss of the property that our ancestors were, why should we not now seek some form of compensation?

During her visit to Britain, Grange is also expected to meet British Museum representatives about artifacts taken from Jamaica during the colonial era. “They are priceless and have enormous significance for Jamaica’s history. We are working to bring them back to the country,” she said. A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said the king had repeatedly expressed a personal commitment to deepening knowledge of slavery and finding ways to address historical wrongs for the benefit of contemporary communities.

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They are priceless and have enormous significance for Jamaica’s history. We are working to bring them back to the country.