‘An apology is free’: experts on the UK’s approach to slavery reparations

Calls for the UK to open the door to reparatory justice for slavery, colonialism and the worsening effect of the climate crisis are growing from Caribbean and African nations, campaigners and MPs as the Commonwealth heads of government meeting (Chogm) gets under way in Samoa. The UN judge Patrick Robinson concluded last year that the UK owed more than £18tn in reparations for its historical involvement in slavery in 14 countries. But Downing Street has said the issue is “not on the agenda” at Chogm, and Keir Starmer said on Wednesday that he wants to be “facing forward” rather than have “very long, endless discussions about reparations on the past”. Campaigners argue that in a number of Commonwealth nations, the generational impacts of crimes against humanity have been compounded not only by a modern-day system of debt that has favoured western interests, but also by extreme weather events, caused or made worse by the carbon emissions of wealthy nations. The demands extend beyond the Commonwealth. The African Union, which also includes former French, Spanish and Portuguese colonies, has joined forces with the Caribbean Community (Caricom) to put pressure on former slave-owning European nations to engage with the reparations movement. Caricom...