Say “reparations” at the United Nations (UN) and it would soon become clear that the mere hint of the word turns off many European and North American states.
Why?
It reminds them of their abhorrent commercial and inhumane practice that took the lives of millions of people of African descent, enriched Europeans and Whites in America, and caused untold suffering to millions of Blacks who, even in 2011, are still feeling the residual effects of the curse of slavery imposed by Whites who bought and sold Blacks as if they were cattle. The last thing they wish to deal with today is slavery.
Barbados didn’t touch the issue of reparations in its foreign policy statement delivered last weekend by Freundel Stuart, the Prime Minister, but the same cannot be said of Dr Ralph Gonsalves, the leader of St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Baldwin Spencer, Antigua and Barbuda’s prime minister.
Both of them passionately used the “r” word in their statements to the 66th session of the UN General Assembly in New York.
For Dr Gonsalves, who reminded the international audience that his country has “a long and proud history of resistance to slavery, bigotry and genocide dating back to the resistance of the Garifuna people against British aggression in the late 1700s”, the issue was quite straightforward.
“The wounds of this era are deep, the crimes against humanity are clear, and the necessity for apology and reparations are undeniable,” was the way Gonsalves put it quite eloquently.
Spencer was equally persuasive.
“None should disagree that racism and other legacies of slavery continue to shape the lives of people of African descent – thus reparations must be directed towards repairing the damage inflicted by slavery and racism,” he said.
“And to help counter the lingering damage inflicted by generations of slave-trading and colonialism, we call on those very states to back up their apologies with new commitments to the economic development of the nations that suffered from this human tragedy,” Spencer insisted.
The UN is an appropriate forum to raise this issue, for it was the world body’s general assembly that adopted and proclaimed on December 16, 2005, some basic principles and guidelines on the right to a remedy and reparations for victims of gross violations of international human rights law and serious violations of international human-rights law.
Stuart may not wish to link reparations with policies, but he has an excellent chance to insist that a carefully crafted blueprint for economic growth and prosperity emerges from the panel’s work.
Even more important, that the recommendations be implemented and reduce the kind of poverty that was created, in part, by slavery.
