CHAIR of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) Reparations Commission Sir Hilary Beckles says the enslaving governments of Europe, and their national institutions, should return to the region to participate in cleaning up their “colonial mess”.

In a statement on the eve of Emancipation Day, which is observed by countries throughout the Caribbean each year, including Jamaica, on August 1, Beckles said the Caribbean was calling upon these enslaving European countries which have all been enriched and empowered by their crimes against humanity.

He said the advancement of economic growth and social justice is dependent upon Europe helping these countries to strengthen their economies.

“As we confront the future, let us be guided by Sir Arthur Lewis who stated in 1939 that the 200 years of unpaid labour extracted by the British from the enslaved people of the Caribbean is a debt that must be repaid to their descendants. “This is important,” he asserted, “if we are to have a fair shot at sustainable development. Pushing ahead with a self-emancipatory agenda is critical, but we must do so fully conscious of this broader context of our development efforts,” Beckles insisted.

He argued that the visages of slavery are still current and active, pointing out that last year, evidence of hostility against the Caribbean community by the British was revealed when data unearthed by historians showed that the finance bond, by which the British Government raised £20 million in 1834 to pay reparations to slave owners, remained active until 2015.

“This fact powerfully shows that, for the British State, the slavery world persisted well into the 21st century, putting to rest its argument that ‘slavery was a long time ago’. These contemporary examples show how the effects of historic crimes still surround our societies. ‘Emancipation’ for us remains a work in progress and in no way can be considered a distant event that is settled and closed,” Beckles stated.

He also pointed to the situation which faced the Windrush generation this year, where countries of the region were forced to litigate the restoration of democratic rights and citizenship, which were illegally stripped away by the British Government from thousands of Caribbean descendants “rightfully living in that country since the immigration door was opened to passengers aboard Empire Windrush in 1948”.

The Caricom Reparations Commission chair said that it is for these reasons that the people of the Caribbean are using the celebration of Emancipation Day as a vehicle through which to demand reparatory justice.

He said that although the people of African descent in the Caribbean have overcome the barbarity of slavery and dedicated their energies to the advancement of their societies, with a primary emphasis on democracy and multiracial multiculturalism, the people of the region have not effectively triumphed over their past.

“Impoverishment and racial denigration continue to elude the people of the Caribbean, as residual elements of the plantation-based past continue to shape regional societies and determine their path,” Beckles said.

He stressed that today is an opportunity for descendants of the enslaved, and enslavers, to reflect upon the causes and consequences of these crimes against humanity, and their impact on how both sides live today, and will in the future.

“We join annually with communities across the world in marking the moment in which the crime of chattel enslavement was confronted and uprooted from our existential realities. For us, the moment is August 1st; other dates are determined elsewhere and officially recognised. Marking the moment in a celebratory fashion remains necessary despite the despicable nature of the gesture of Emancipation, legislated by Britain in 1838. It was an act in which black people were finally defined by Parliament as property, and their enslavers deemed entitled to compensation for property loss,” he stated.

Other countries in the region that celebrate Emancipation Day on August 1 are Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Guyana.