Candidates to lead Commonwealth urge reparations for slavery and colonialism

The three candidates to be the next secretary general of the Commonwealth have called for reparations for countries that were affected by slavery and colonisation. The candidates from the Gambia, Ghana and Lesotho expressed their support for either financial reparations or “reparative justice”, as they made their pitches to lead the 56-country organisation at a debate hosted by the Chatham House thinktank in London on Wednesday. Calls for reparations for the harms caused by slavery and colonialism have grown since the murder of George Floyd by police in 2020 sparked Black Lives Matter protests globally and led many governments, institutions and individuals to examine how they had historically benefited from the slave trade. African and Caribbean countries formed an alliance last year to pressure former slave-owning states to pay for “historical mass crimes”. “Financial reparations is good,” said Shirley Botchwey, Ghana’s foreign minister. “Whether or not the Commonwealth has a role to play will depend on the heads of government, who will give the secretary general her marching orders.” Joshua Setipa, a former trade minister for Lesotho, said he would not wait to get involved in the reparations debate. “I support the idea of reparative justice,” he said. “The Commonwealth...