A committee with the United Nations said that countries that have historically participated in slave trade must consider reparations to address the matter.
“States Parties must implement comprehensive reparatory measures for people of African descent, covering all aspects of remedies. Reparatory justice should be comprehensive and grounded in international human rights law, combining a wide range of measures conceived as monetary, non-monetary and structural,” the document from the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination says. “States Parties must implement those measures through laws and policies, ensuring independent monitoring and evaluation.”
“Reparatory justice must be aimed at dismantling the race-based hierarchical domination and subjugation within and across all institutions,” it reads, going on to add that “gender sensitivity is essential” to such action.
“Nationwide structures must ensure equal redress for people of African descent,” the committee further wrote. “Plans should recognize that truth, justice and reparatory justice for transatlantic chattel slavery and its legacies promote non-recurrence and benefit society as a whole.”
The United Nations adopted a resolution earlier this year declaring that the trafficking of enslaved Africans is the “most inhumane and enduring injustice against humanity.” The resolution, led by Ghana, received 123 votes in favor. Argentina, Israel, and the United States voted against it, with 52 countries abstaining.
The resolution went on to affirm the “importance of addressing historical wrongs affecting Africans and people of African descent in a manner that promotes justice, human rights, dignity and healing,” and states that claims for reparations “represent a concrete step towards remedying historical wrongs against Africans and people of African descent.”
