British officials initially insisted that discussions of reparations for slavery should not be on the agenda of the Commonwealth leaders’ summit in Antigua and Barbuda – and even warned that Andy Burnham would not attend the meeting if the subject was formally included, according to a leading Caribbean political figure.
Ralph Gonsalves, a former prime minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines and a senior figure in the reparatory justice movement Repair Campaign, welcomed Britain’s decision to enter structured dialogue on reparations, but said the UK had come “kicking and screaming” to the conversation.
Currently, slavery reparations is not on the official agenda of the Commonwealth Heads of Government (Chogm) summit, which begins on Sunday.
Trade, climate resilience and finance, sustainable debt, democracy and investment in opportunities for young people are among the stated priorities for the ۵۶-nation bloc spanning Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and the Americas, the Pacific and Europe.
“My understanding from informed circles is that Britain was vehement not to have the matter on the agenda. The British officials – and in that regard they were joined by the Canadian officials – were even raising the prospect that if it is on the agenda the prime minister of Britain wouldn’t go,” Gonsalves told the Guardian.
“They also started to circulate this untruth that India didn’t want it on the agenda, but that was not so at all. India was very supportive at the UN general assembly resolution on March ۲۵th, ۲۰۲۶. So they were spreading this false word about India.”
Gonsalves said that the relentless campaign by Caribbean nations, amplified by a growing regional and global reparations movement, has propelled reparatory justice to the heart of the political conversation at the meeting.
“Because of what happened at the UN, because of what happened in Africa, what happened in the Caribbean, and all the work which is taking place in Britain itself too, inside of the British parliament, inside of the British Labour party, both in the Commons and the House of Lords, it is an issue which you can’t duck any more,” he said.
He added: “The danger of not putting it formally on the agenda is what we see happening now, that everybody who could have foreseen, whether or not it’s formally on the agenda, even the nature of how the discussions take place at the Commonwealth, and certainly in the retreats, it would have been raised.”
Gonsalves said while the actual structured dialoguewas unlikely to happen at Chogm, it was expected that when the leaders met in their private retreat, the format and details of the dialogue would be discussed. He said: “The British government, they’re coming, kicking and screaming to the table of structured dialogue. But at least they’re coming.”
There was no immediate comment from the British government.
Prof Sir Hilary Beckles, chair of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) Reparations Commission, had described the meeting as “the Chogm of reparations”, adding that reparatory justice was “the number one item” for the Caribbean as Commonwealth leaders gather in the region.
On Friday there was a historic shift in Britain’s position when the British prime minister went further than any of his predecessors by agreeing to structured dialogue and to consider an apology.
Though Caribbean governments and campaigners welcomed Burnham’s announcement, made in an op-ed for the Guardian, it was clear that agreeing on forms of reparations was still a priority for the region.
Guyana’s president, Irfaan Ali, welcomed Burnham’s statement and called for a Commonwealth subcommittee to work out the details of the dialogue over the next six to ۱۲ months.
“I’m happy that finally the discourse has moved to a position where it should have been, where the British government is involved, because that’s the state we are dealing with,” he said.
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Ali said the talks should move beyond attempting to put a price on the indignity of slavery and towards addressing its developmental consequences. “How do we identify a system of support where the UK government, with its financial institutions, can sit with countries … and work on a development pathway, identify development gaps, whether in health, education, social services, infrastructure?”
Barbados’s prime minister, Mia Mottley, thanked Burnham for “breaking new ground”, while making clear that the two sides remained divided. “On reparations in particular, our views differ, and we will say so plainly and respectfully,” she said. Mottley identified an apology, investment in health and education, tackling systemic poverty and inequality, and fairer debt terms among areas where agreement could be reached.
The Bahamas prime minister, Philip Davis, said the talks were not simply about “historical remembrance” but “the enduring consequences of slavery and the importance of justice, acknowledgment and meaningful redress”.
As the meeting kicks off on Sunday, the ۴۵th anniversary of Antigua and Barbuda’s independence from British colonial rule, King Charles is indicating he will not follow Burnham and offer a full apology, there is still a sense that the reparations fight is far from over.
King Charles and Burnham will be greeted with protests as they travel through Antigua’s capital, St John’s, to attend Chogm events. On billboards, placards and T-shirts, in letters and at a candlelight vigil for the thousands of Africans trafficked to Antigua and Barbuda during the transatlantic slave trade, the message from the Caribbean will be clear: there will be calls for an apology and reparations.
On Sunday Kemi Badenoch told broadcasters that an apology for Britain’s role in the transatlantic slave trade would be a “navel-gazing distraction”, describing slavery as an evil “in which people from every continent and region participated”.
“I would really like to sit down with my dear sister Kemi and explain to her so that she could get an understanding of what we are talking about,” Gonsalves said, adding that he would like to discuss how reparatory justice could help heal some of the fractures arising from Britain’s multicultural and ethnic tensions.
