Ghana's slavery reparation campaign gathers momentum after UN legal backing

Ghana’s campaign for reparatory justice for victims of the transatlantic slave trade has entered a new phase following a report by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD).

The report provides fresh legal backing for Ghana’s call for States responsible for the trafficking and enslavement of Africans to provide reparatory justice.

In a social media post by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday, it said Ghana welcomed the report, describing it as an affirmation of the country’s efforts to secure justice for millions of Africans who suffered under the transatlantic slave trade and racialised chattel slavery.

The development comes as President John Dramani Mahama continues to advance Ghana’s reparations agenda at the continental and international levels.

President Mahama, who is the African Union Champion for Reparations, recently presented a comprehensive report on Ghana’s efforts at an African Union extraordinary meeting in Angola.

The report follows Ghana’s role in the adoption of UN Resolution A/RES/80/250, which recognises the transatlantic enslavement of Africans as the gravest crime against humanity.

The UN committee’s guidance asserts that States have obligations under the 1965 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination to provide reparatory justice for the trafficking of enslaved Africans and racialised chattel slavery.

According to Ghana, the guidance challenges the long-standing argument that the crimes cannot attract reparations because they were considered lawful at the time they were committed.

Ghana said the committee itself described the development as a paradigm shift, arguing that recognition of the historical crimes is increasingly translating into legal obligations.

“A crime does not rot,” Ghana said, explaining the principle behind its decision to carry the cause of enslaved Africans to the United Nations.

It said the latest UN guidance had strengthened the legal foundation for the reparations campaign, with apology, restitution, compensation and guarantees of non-repetition increasingly viewed as obligations rather than acts of goodwill.

President Mahama is also expected to host a side event on restitution in New York during the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly next month.

The event will build on the outcomes of the Next Steps Summit on reparatory justice held in Accra, as Ghana seeks to deepen international discussions on restitution for the descendants of enslaved Africans.

Ghana said its campaign would continue in partnership with the African Union, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and African communities in the diaspora.

The country maintained that the passage of time should not prevent victims and their descendants from seeking justice for historical crimes.