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.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
UNREST: The authorities in Turkey arrested 13 Turkish journalists in five days, deported a BBC correspondent and on Thursday arrested a reporter from Sweden Waving flags and chanting slogans, many hundreds of thousands of anti-government demonstrators on Saturday rallied in Istanbul, Turkey, in defence of democracy after the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu which sparked Turkey’s worst street unrest in more than a decade. Under a cloudless blue sky, vast crowds gathered in Maltepe on the Asian side of Turkey’s biggest city on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr celebration which started yesterday, marking the end of Ramadan. Ozgur Ozel, chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which organized the rally, said there were 2.2 million people in the crowd, but