Caricom commission heading to UK to press reparations case
GEORGETOWN, Guyana (CMC) – The Caribbean Community (Caricom) Reparations Commission (CRC) will travel to the United Kingdom next week as part of a renewed push to build international support for reparatory justice, amid what it described as growing global momentum for the issue.
A statement from the Caricom Secretariat said the July 13-16 mission will include meetings with diplomats, academics and civil society organisations, as well as a presentation at the UK Parliament. The engagements will be hosted by the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London.
The Commission said the visit is aimed at strengthening strategic partnerships and advancing public education and civil society engagement on reparatory justice.
The delegation will be led by CRC Chairman Professor Sir Hilary Beckles and includes Vice Chairmen Dorbrene O’Marde and Eric Phillips, Vice Chair Professor Verene Shepherd, Barbados’ Ambassador to Caricom David Comissiong and Dr Ron Daniels, convenor of the United States-based National African Reparations Commission.
According to the CRC, the visit comes as Caricom member states prepare for the 2026 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Antigua and Barbuda and follows several recent developments that have strengthened the international reparations movement.
These include the adoption by the United Nations General Assembly in March of a Ghana-led resolution declaring the transatlantic trafficking of enslaved Africans and chattel enslavement the “gravest crime against humanity.”
The Commission also pointed to the High-Level Consultative Conference on Reparations, hosted by Ghana in Accra in June which it described as a “historic turning point for Africans and People of African descent.”
The regional body said momentum had also been strengthened by the recent approval by Caricom Heads of Government of the revised Caricom Ten-Point Plan for Reparatory Justice: A Manifesto for the Coming Enlightenment, which it said positions reparations as a “global human rights imperative.”
During the visit, the delegation is scheduled to meet Caricom and African Union ambassadors and high commissioners, participate in a public roundtable discussion at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies and deliver a presentation at the UK Parliament.
The parliamentary event is being organised by Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy, who chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Afrikan Reparations.
The Commission said the mission underscores its commitment to building international alliances and fostering dialogue on reparatory justice, historical accountability and socio-economic transformation.
A media briefing on the delegation’s activities is scheduled for July 14 at the University of London and will also be available virtually.