July 2, 2026
In response to Jamaican officers, the petition asks the monarch questions concerning whether or not Britain has a authorized obligation to supply reparations for slavery.
Jamaica will ship a authorities delegation to the UK on Sept. 6 to formally current a slavery reparations petition to King Charles III, in search of authorized clarification on Britain’s accountability for the transatlantic slave commerce and its lasting impression on the Caribbean, The Guardian studies.
In response to Jamaican officers, the petition asks the monarch, in his capability as Jamaica’s head of state, to refer inquiries to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council concerning whether or not Britain has a authorized obligation to supply reparations for slavery. The hassle is backed by the Caribbean Group (CARICOM) and follows the discharge of the CARICOM Reparations Fee‘s up to date reparations manifesto in June 2026.
Later this 12 months, Jamaica will take the case for reparations on to King Charles, lodging a proper petition.
It’s getting tougher and tougher for British establishments to keep up their favoured tactic of merely ignoring requires restore.https://t.co/zJJGqCYpze
— Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP (@BellRibeiroAddy) July 1, 2026
Britain has constantly rejected requires slavery reparations, sustaining that it doesn’t assist monetary compensation for the establishment of slavery whereas acknowledging its historic position within the transatlantic slave commerce.
Talking earlier than Jamaica’s Parliament on June 30, 2026, Tradition Minister Olivia Grange mentioned Sept. 6 was chosen as a result of it marks the anniversary of the 1781 departure of the Zong slave ship from West Africa.
“We intend to petition King Charles on September 6 — a historic day,” Grange mentioned in keeping with the outlet. “On this date in 1781, the Zong slave ship departed West Africa for Jamaica with 442 enslaved Africans.”
Grange mentioned roughly 140 enslaved Africans had been thrown overboard throughout the voyage earlier than the ship arrived in Jamaica on Dec. 21, 1781, an occasion historians broadly acknowledge as some of the notorious atrocities of the transatlantic slave commerce.
The petition additionally cites Britain’s compensation of slave house owners following emancipation in 1834, whereas previously enslaved Africans obtained no monetary restitution and had been as a substitute required to finish a interval of unpaid apprenticeship. Grange mentioned Britain paid £20 million to compensate enslavers by a government-backed mortgage that was not absolutely repaid till 2015.
Laleta Davis Mattis, chair of Jamaica’s Nationwide Council on Reparations, referred to as the petition “a big milestone in our lengthy pursuit of reparatory justice,” whereas crediting Jamaican and British authorized specialists with growing the initiative.
Deputy Chair Bert Samuels mentioned the nation’s authorized place has been strengthened by the United Nations Basic Meeting’s March 25, 2026, decision recognizing the transatlantic trafficking of enslaved Africans as against the law towards humanity.
“We now have discovered from the 300-year battle for freedom itself,” Samuels mentioned. “Individuals who have been tied down for 3 centuries into slavery should have felt hopeless at occasions. So we’re used to a battle that appears hopeless at occasions.”
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