(Kaieteur News) – The wounds left by slavery remain raw, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley told the United Nations on Thursday, as she called for honest engagement on reparatory justice.
Mottley, addressing the 81st Session of the UN General Assembly, said Caribbean countries continue to carry the scars of the trafficking and enslavement of Africans and must pursue healing through reparatory justice.
“We in Barbados accept the moral responsibility of removing the cross of slavery with its horrific consequences,” Mottley said.
“We must effect healing through reparatory justice. For it is the right thing to do.”
Barbados Prime Minister, Mia Mottley
Mottley noted that the UN General Assembly passed a resolution on March 25 recognising the trafficking of enslaved Africans and the racialised chattel enslavement of Africans as the gravest crime against humanity.
She also pointed to Barbados’ history, noting that the country passed its first slave code in 1661, while other countries later followed with similar laws, including France’s Code Noir of 1685.
“That Code Noir was only repealed this year. And hence the wounds are still raw,” she said.
Mottley said CARICOM heads of government approved the revised CARICOM Ten-Point Plan for Reparatory Justice in July.
“For the Caribbean, for Africa and for those countries concerned, the honest engagement must begin,” she said.
She also thanked Ghanaian President John Mahama for coming to the table on the issue.
Mottley stressed that the call for reparations does not remove the responsibility of Caribbean countries to address their own challenges.
“We do not ask for reparations without accepting responsibility for our own self-repair, which we have undertaken for decades,” she said.
She linked the legacy of slavery to inequalities that remain within international power structures and the global financial system.
Mottley said addressing those inequalities is necessary if the world is serious about restoring trust and creating a more equal international system.
Source: Kaieteur News
