Caribbean countries considering seeking legal opinion from the UN’s international court of justice (ICJ) on demanding compensation over slavery from 10 European countries, as the debate for reformatory justice intensifies, informed by the group of 33 nation’s president in the region.
The current head of the community of Latin American and the Caribbean states (CELAC), Ralph Gonsalves informed that he is also requesting for an apology from the British government and announced his disappointment in Rishi Sunak’s lack of commitment in the matter.
He expressed his disappointment that Sunak, considering his origins, not projecting a greater concern to this inquiry of the past, Sunak’s parents raised in British colonies in east Africa and were of Indian origin. Gonsalves has been St Vincent Grenadines prime minister for 22 years.
Gonsalves said, that he would like an apology and to engage in a mature conversation with the British government for reparatory justice.
He said that reparative justice involves a wider acknowledgment of the ongoing effects of slavery, economic development, culture heritage and colonization on public health, and not just a rudimentary monitory compensation for descendants of enslaved individuals. However, he has accepted the fact that not all European countries were associated in colonization.
He informed that they are concerned with the significant heritages of the enslavement [Africans] and the presence of modern manifestations on the development directly linked to slavery and genocide.
A 10-point plan have been formulated by the Caribbean community for reparatory justice, ranging from an acknowledgment of debt cancellation and native genocide to formal apologies from slaver nations.
It was also acknowledged that the African – descended population has a greater occurrence of chronic diseases in the world, including type 2 diabetes and hypertension, which some accept is an effect of the “stress profile associated with slavery”.
The Dutch king last month apologized on behalf of his country for its role in slavery.
Gonsalves informed that a formal approach to the ICJ to attain legal advisory would be taken up at a meeting of a prime ministerial subcommittee on the compensation of the Caribbean countries chaired by Mia Mottley prime minister of Barbados.
