King Charles III yesterday said the Commonwealth should acknowledge its “painful” history, as African and Caribbean nations push for reparations for Britain’s role in transatlantic slavery.
Representatives of 56 countries, most with roots in Britain’s empire, are attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting that began in Samoa on Monday, with slavery and the threat of climate change emerging as major themes.
“I understand from listening to people across the Commonwealth how the most painful aspects of our past continue to resonate,” Charles said in a speech to the summit.
Photo: Reuters
“It is vital, therefore, that we understand our history, to guide us towards making the right choices in future,” he said.
The demand for former colonial powers such as Britain to pay reparations or make other amends for slavery and its legacies today is a long-standing one, but has gained momentum worldwide, particularly among the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the African Union.
Opponents of reparations say countries should not be held responsible for historical wrongs, while those in favor say the legacy of slavery has led to vast and persistent racial inequality.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has rejected calls for reparations and ruled out apologizing for the country’s historic role, but said he was open to engage with leaders who want to discuss it.
The Guardian newspaper, citing a source from Starmer’s office, reported late on Thursday that the prime minister had “opened the door to non-financial reparations,” such as restructuring financial institutions and providing debt relief.
Starmer’s office did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment.
There are different types of reparations, from financial payments and apologies to technology transfer and educational programs. CARICOM has its own reparations plan.
Bahamas Minister of Foreign Affairs Frederick Mitchell told the BBC on Thursday the summit’s draft conclusion, expected to be published today, had paragraphs calling for a discussion on reparations.
“If we say we want greater equality and equity in the world, the way to do this is to examine what and how reparations might manifest, rather than to shut down the conversation,” said Jacqueline McKenzie, a lawyer at London firm Leigh Day, where her team are investigating the potential for reparations claims.
From the 15th to the 19th century, at least 12.5 million Africans were kidnapped and forcibly taken by mostly European ships and merchants and sold into slavery.
Those who survived the brutal voyages ended up toiling on plantations in inhumane conditions in the Americas, while others profited from their labor.
“We have demonstrated an unparalleled ability to confound the painful history which brought us together and sit together as equals for 75 years,” Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland, a British diplomat and lawyer who was born in Dominica, told the summit.
During the summit, member countries are also expected to sign the Commonwealth Ocean Declaration, which aims to boost financing to ensure a healthy ocean and fix maritime boundaries even if small island nations eventually become unliveable.
“What the Ocean Declaration seeks to do and to say is that once your marine boundaries are fixed, they’re fixed in perpetuity,” Scotland said.
“This is incredibly important because it will give real hope to many who are frightened and are feeling no one’s watching, no one’s listening, no one’s caring — and that’s not true,” she said.
More than half of the Commonwealth’s members are small nations, many of them low-lying islands at risk from rising sea levels caused by climate change.
“You come to this beautiful paradise, and then you realise that paradise is in danger,” Scotland said.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS