Petition to King Charles questions the legality of slavery under English law and UK’s responsibility for reparations.
Published On ۷ Sep ۲۰۲۶
A Jamaican delegation to the United Kingdom has said it will file a petition addressed to King Charles III to seek legal guidance on the question of slavery reparations.
This is the first time a British Commonwealth state will use this legal route “for the cause of reparatory justice”, the Jamaican delegation said, as the visit to London kicks off Monday.
Jamaica’s Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport said its minister, Olivia Grange, will lead the delegation “to advance Jamaica’s push for reparations for the African ancestors who suffered under hundreds of years of enslavement”.
The ministry added that it will meet with the British Museum to discuss “the repatriation of cultural artefacts taken from Jamaica”.
The petition will ask the king, Jamaica’s head of state, to answer three questions on the transatlantic slave trade to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the Caribbean island’s highest court of appeal based in London.
Under the Judicial Committee Act of ۱۸۳۳, the UK monarch has the authority to refer legal matters to the court for an advisory opinion.
The questions include: whether the enslavement of Africans in Jamaica was legal under English common law, whether it violated international law, and whether the UK has a legal obligation to provide a remedy for the harm caused by slavery.
Grange said she would not speculate on whether Jamaica was asking the UK to pay reparations for the slave trade.
“We want the answers. Once we get the answers, or once we get a response to those questions, then the next steps will be determined,” she said.
“We understand the Jamaican government is seeking a petition to be heard before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council,” a Buckingham Palace spokesperson said in response to Jamaica’s inquiry.
The palace acknowledged the king’s constitutional role in the petition as Jamaica’s head of state but said he had no role in deciding the substance of the claim.
British merchants enslaved and forcibly transported ۶۰۰,۰۰۰ to ۱ million Africans to Jamaica between the ۱۷th century and the early ۱۹th century.
Shortly after abolishing slavery in ۱۸۳۳, the UK paid slave owners $۲۷m in compensation, amounting to ۴۰ percent of the Treasury’s annual income. To raise the cash, the government took out considerable loans, finally paying off its debts in ۲۰۱۵.
The Jamaican government estimates that the country is owed about $۱۰bn, but the UK has repeatedly refused to pay for historical slavery.
