Ghana summit charts path from 'recognition to action' on slavery reparations

The summit follows the adoption in March of a non-binding United Nations resolution, championed by Ghanaian President John Mahama, calling on countries involved in the slave trade to engage in restitution and compensation.

The landmark UN resolution recognised the transatlantic slave trade as the "gravest crime against humanity". 

This week's summit concludes with a ceremony at Osu Castle in the Ghanaian capital Accra, a fort built by Denmark and Norway in the 1660s which held enslaved people. The ceremony will mark Juneteenth, an annual public holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States. Organisers say it is the first time the celebration has been held outside the US.

"We won the battle against slavery, we won the battle against colonialism, we won the battle against apartheid, and we are confident that we shall win the battle against reparatory injustice," Ghana's Foreign Minister Samuel Ablakwa told delegates.

The resolution, backed by 123 UN member states, has given the campaign "unprecedented momentum", Ablakwa added.

French sons of slave traders and enslaved unite to seek a path to justice

'Shared history'

Mahama announced the creation of three working groups to explore practical ways forward. One will be led by heads of state, another will focus on restitution and a third will examine the legal aspects of reparations.

"The question before us is not whether history can be changed – it cannot – but whether we have the courage to confront it honestly and the determination to turn recognition into meaningful action," he said.

The summit brings together not only African countries but descendants of enslaved people in the Americas, Constant Serge Bounda, the Republic of the Congo's foreign minister, told RFI.

"This is not a question that concerns only Africa, but Africa and the countries where our brothers and sisters were deported centuries ago," Bounda said, adding that education, historical research and restoring former slave trade sites will all be part of the process.

He pointed to Loango, on the Congolese coast, where many Congolese people were deported during the slave trade. "Loango is one of those important sites that must be restored because it is part of our shared history."

France votes unanimously to abolish Code Noir, a colonial-era slavery law

More than 'just a cheque'

In a video address to the conference, French President Emmanuel Macron said reparations can take different forms. "History cannot be reduced to a simple accounting ledger."

Macron added that the process should involve confronting historical and scientific truth through education and research, as well as returning works of art stolen during the colonial period.

"Making reparations can never just be a cheque written to bring the story to a close," he said.

Macron has also backed the symbolic repeal of the royal decrees that governed slavery in France's former colonies and said reparations should be addressed while warning against making "false promises".

France's efforts to return African cultural artefacts were a start, Bounda said. "It is important that we all work together because these reparations cannot happen without everyone's contribution and mobilisation."

A strong declaration would be an important outcome of the summit, he said, although "the greatest challenge will be its implementation".

Macron opens debate on reparations for France's role in slave trade

'Beyond symbolism'

Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley said slavery had taken far more than labour from Africa. "What went across the Atlantic were also ideas, humanity, arts, culture."

Mottley said those ideas were now returning in a different form.

"What has returned is a level of consciousness returning through this door that will shape the world in this 21st century," she said.

Others at the conference argued that recognition alone was not enough.

Reparations "must go beyond symbolism", Nigerian Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka said.

"It is not merely about apology or compensation – it is about the rehumanisation of memory and the restoration of values that were distorted by centuries of dehumanisation."

(with newswires)