Slavery reparations get UN committee legal backing

A United Nations committee said Monday that countries are legally obliged to provide broad reparations for harms linked to direct and indirect involvement in the transatlantic African slave trade.

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination issued the finding in a new interpretation of the 1969 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

The committee said states that are party to the treaty “must implement comprehensive reparatory measures for people of African descent, covering all aspects of remedies”. It said reparatory justice can include monetary, non-monetary and structural measures.

The findings are not legally binding, but committee member Pela Boker-Wilson told AFP they carry “significant authoritative weight” and could be used by officials, courts and litigants.

Boker-Wilson called the finding “a watershed moment” and said it shifted reparatory justice from a question of historical responsibility to a present-day legal obligation.

The convention has 182 parties, including the United States, Britain, France and Portugal. The committee said the transatlantic slave trade distorted global economic relations and created shared responsibility for its enduring effects.

The document said reparations could go beyond monetary compensation to include restitution, rehabilitation, memorialisation and education, including an obligation to investigate and disclose the full truth about transatlantic chattel slavery.