A year after President John Mahama used the 80th UN General Assembly to press the case for reparations, the campaign has a UN resolution, new institutions and a growing list of Western interlocutors. It does not yet have a Western commitment to pay.
On March 25, 2026, the General Assembly adopted the Ghana-led resolution declaring the transatlantic trafficking and enslavement of Africans the gravest crime against humanity.
It passed with 123 votes in favour, three against (the United States, Israel and Argentina) and 52 abstentions. The abstainers included the UK, every EU member state, Canada, Australia and Japan. The text is not legally binding.
It did not create a tribunal, name liable states or order transfers. It calls for dialogue on apologies, restitution, compensation, rehabilitation and cultural property.Since then, Ghana has built machinery around it.
The Accra Next Steps conference in June widened the agenda to include indentured labour and set up three bodies: a High-Level Advisory Council, a Global Experts Panel on cultural restitution and a Global Legal Panel.
On September 23, at UNGA 81, Mahama, now the AU's reparations champion, led a side event to receive their progress reports. Notably, it was co-hosted by Germany and France, on the theme of returning cultural property.
Are Western states willing? On dialogue, increasingly yes. Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said the UK, the Netherlands and Denmark have signalled readiness to work with Ghana, and that Portugal has sent similar signals.
He cast this as proof the initiative is not meant to divide the international community. On compensation, there is no public sign of movement. The abstentions show that Europe's willingness is strongest where it is cheapest and least legally exposed: talks, museums and returned artefacts.
The US opposition is firmer. Analysts note that the West's objections often centre on legal liability and the language of "gravest" crime, not on the history itself.
So the honest outcome is a shift from recognition to process. Ghana and the AU have moved the question from moral appeal into diplomacy, with panels, co-hosts and a timeline running through the AU's Decade for Reparations (2026–2036).
Whether that produces restitution of artefacts within a few years is plausible. Whether it produces financial reparations is still an open question, and the panels' legal work will be the test.
Mustapha Bature Sallama
Medical/ Science Communicator,
Private Investigator, Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Analysis,
International Conflict Management and Peacebuilding. (USIP)
[email protected]
+233555275880
Sources
UN News, "UN resolution urges reparations for slavery's 'historical wrongs'": https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/03/1167199
JURIST, "Ghana dispatch: UN General Assembly declaration…" (abstentions, Mahama's 2025 address): https://www.jurist.org/news/2026/04/ghana-dispatch-un-general-assembly-declares-transatlantic-slave-trade-a-crime-against-humanity-calls-for-reparations/
Al Jazeera, "UN passes resolution naming slave trade 'gravest crime against humanity'": https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/25/un-passes-resolution-naming-slave-trade-gravest-crime-against-humanity
African Arguments, "Present but Displaced: What Western Objections to Reparations Fail to See": https://africanarguments.org/2026/08/present-but-displaced-what-western-objections-to-reparations-fail-to-see/
ACHPR press statement on the resolution: https://achpr.au.int/en/news/press-releases/2026-03-26/achpr-press-statement-adoption-united-nations-resolution-recognizi
Adomonline, on the UNGA side event and the three panels: https://www.adomonline.com/ghana-to-host-high-level-unga-side-event-on-reparatory-justice-in-september-mahama/
GBC Ghana, on the Ghana-Germany-France co-hosted event: https://www.gbcghanaonline.com/general/president-mahama-to-lead-high-level-un-discussion-on-next-steps-for-reparatory-justice/2026/
UA.News, citing MyJoyOnline, on UK/Netherlands/Denmark/Portugal: https://ua.news/en/world/britaniia-niderlandi-ta-daniia-gotovi-spivpratsiuvati-z-ganoiu-shchodo-reparatsii-myjoyonline
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