GENEVA - UN experts* today called for reparatory justice for enslavement, the trade in enslaved persons, including transatlantic trade in Africans, colonialism, and other grave human rights violations against Africans and people of African descent, whose enduring legacies continue to shape every aspect of their lives.
"Reparatory justice for Africans and people of African descent must include restitution, compensation, rehabilitation, satisfaction, and guarantees of non-repetition, tailored to each historical and national context," the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent said. "These injustices targeted Africans and continue to negatively impact their descendants as a people, so justice must be collective."
In a report to the 60th session of the Human Rights Council, the Working Group analysed the political, legal, sociocultural and economic dimensions, contexts, challenges, approaches, pathways, strategies and opportunities that could enable the pursuit of reparatory justice for Africans and people of African descent for the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans and other related past injustices.
The experts called for concrete steps towards reparatory justice, including the formal recognition by the United Nations of reparations for enslavement and the transatlantic slave trade as a principle of international law, as well as the integration of reparatory justice into the Second International Decade for People of African Descent. They also urged Member States to convene a high-level meeting to develop strategies for achieving reparatory justice, set up an international mechanism to support claims, monitor progress, ensure accountability and provide resolution and closure for Africans and people of African descent.
The Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent also presented a report on its visit to Colombia.
