New tone on global conversation on slave trade

This year has seen a dramatic change in tone in the global conversation about the transatlantic slave trade, reports BBC News. The demand for formal apologies, debt relief and financial compensation from nations and institutions that benefited from slavery has become increasingly forceful. In March, a resolution was passed at the UN recognising slavery as ‘the greatest crime against humanity’ - though the US voted against the resolution and every European nation abstained from the vote. The UK, which alongside Portugal dominated the transatlantic slave trade, has consistently rejected the idea of paying reparations, which is perhaps unsurprising given estimates of what Britain ‘owes’ in damages to nations affected run into many trillions of pounds. It was Ghana that tabled the UN resolution, and in June, a summit on reparations was held in its capital, Accra, with delegates from around 80 countries, who concluded that recompense was long overdue. ‘Ghana has always been a pan-African leader. We're the first country to attain independence in sub-Saharan Africa and to prove that it is possible to fight imperial might, and win,’ said Foreign Minister Samuel Okuzeto Ablakwa.

Ghana has been given special responsibility by the AU to be ‘champion for reparatory justice’ and it is clearly a role the country's political leadership is taking seriously. In part that is because about 10-15% of the estimated 12m Africans who were forcibly removed from their homes, torn from their villages, and dehumanised on a scale never before seen, were from what is now Ghana. Even more were shipped from its shores. ‘Ghana was the crime scene where these atrocities took place, so Ghana cannot afford to be silent on ensuring that we hold perpetrators accountable,’ Ablakwa said. The Minister has called for a system of reparatory justice that funds educational grants, venture capital for young African entrepreneurs and research into enduring health issues that some argue may trace their roots back to the severe malnutrition and inhumane conditions of enslavement, according to BBC News. And though he insists that this is not about direct financial gain for African leaders, one of the demands laid out at the recent summit on reparations clearly talked of debt relief and debt cancellation.

Full BBC News report