A protester holds a sign during a rally to demand that the United Kingdom make reparations for slavery.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Commonwealth heads of government are to push for a “conversation” on reparations for the transatlantic slave trade when they meet for the association’s first summit in two years, the BBC reported on Thursday (October 24, 2024).

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said the focus of the summit should be on “real challenges on things like climate in the here and now… rather than what will end up being very, very long, endless discussions about reparations on the past”.

Also read: Should America pay reparations for slavery?

But CARICOM, a group of 15 Caribbean countries, has indicated it will push the UK government on the issue at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Samoa, which begins on Friday (October 25, 2024).

Diplomatic negotiations have resulted in the issue featuring on the draft summit communique, which the BBC said it had seen.

The document, that could still change, says: “Heads, noting calls for discussions on reparatory justice with regard to the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans and chattel enslavement… agreed that the time has come for a meaningful, truthful and respectful conversation towards forging a common future based on equity.”

The UK did not initially want any language in the communique about reparations, the broadcaster said.

Bahamas foreign minister Frederick Mitchell told BBC radio on Thursday: “Once you broach the subject, it may take a while for people to come around but come around they will.”

He called on the UK to “apologise” for its role in the slave trade, saying: “It’s a simple matter. It can be done — one sentence, one line.”

Mr. Starmer’s official spokesman earlier this week said the UK government’s official position is not to pay reparations and ruled out an apology at the summit.

Members of the Commonwealth, comprised of 56 nations that were mostly former territories of the British empire, “want the conversation to start” but “there appears to be even a reluctance to have the conversation,” Mitchell told the BBC.

King Charles III is the ceremonial head of the Commonwealth, and 14 of its members, including several in the Caribbean. He is also attending the summit.

The British royal family, which benefited from the slave trade over centuries, has also faced calls to apologise.

CHOGM, which takes place every two years, will see Commonwealth leaders select a new secretary-general nominated from an African country, in line with regional rotations of the position.

All three likely candidates have called publicly for reparations for slavery and colonialism.