HENRY. recalled instances where compensation has been paid to nationalities for injustices and violations suffered

OPPOSITION Member of Parliament Mike Henry on Tuesday tabled a resolution in the House of Representatives seeking a "united and common position" on proposals for reparation to countries which suffered from slavery.

Henry also proposed that a House committee be appointed to quantify the reparation figure and that debtor nations be called upon to provide compensation by way of cash and/or debt relief.

His resolutions, which preceded his contribution to the sectoral debate, noted that, "in the words of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the period of the slave trade was barbaric and uncivilised and represented one of the worst examples of man's inhumanity to man and should never be either forgotten or repeated".

It added that it was as a direct consequence of the slave trade that the African people were scattered throughout the Globe against their will.

This action, the resolution went on, led to the dismantling and destabilisation of Africa, so that children who were produced, as a result, have remained disenfranchised, and English-speaking Caribbean nations, "which have evolved through wresting independence from their slave masters, have remained strangled by mushrooming debt".

Henry's resolutions also recalled instances where compensation has been paid to nationalities for injustices and violations suffered. "the Jews for the holocaust, the Maoris of New Zealand and the Japanese after World Way II".

And he noted that it has been 74 years since the Rastafarian brethren of Jamaica commenced the struggle for reparation and repatriation.

"Be it resolved that this Honourable House, with a view to establishing a united and common position, debate the proposition that reparation is due to the countries of the displaced descendants.

"Be it further resolved that a committee of the House be established to quantify the reparation; and be it further resolved that the debtor nations be called upon to provide compensation by way of cash and/or debt relief."

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