Commonwealth heads of presidency to defy UK on slavery reparations

Commonwealth heads of presidency are making ready to defy the UK and agree plans to look at reparatory justice for the transatlantic slave commerce, the BBC has discovered.

Downing Avenue insists the difficulty will not be on the agenda for the summit of 56 Commonwealth nations, which begins within the Pacific island nation of Samoa on Friday.

However diplomatic sources mentioned officers had been negotiating an settlement to conduct additional analysis and start a “meaningful conversation” about a problem which might probably depart the UK owing billions of kilos in reparations.

Frederick Mitchell, overseas minister of the Bahamas, informed BBC Radio 4’s Right this moment programme: “Once you broach the subject it may take a while for people to come around but come around they will.”

The current text of the draft summit communique – made known to the BBC – 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.”

It says the heads of government would play “an active role in bringing about such inclusive conversations addressing these harms” and that they agreed “to prioritise and facilitate further and additional research on the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans and chattel slavery that encourages and supports the conversations and informs a way forward”.

The text – which could still change once Commonwealth leaders arrive – has been hammered out by diplomats ahead of the summit. British officials succeeded in blocking a plan for an entirely separate declaration on the subject.

The UK did not want any language in the communique about reparatory justice, but at the moment it is having to accept it will include three full paragraphs setting out the Commonwealth’s detailed position.

Reparatory justice for slavery can come in many forms, including financial reparations, debt relief, an official apology, educational programmes, building museums, economic support, and public health assistance.

Officials from Caricom, the body that represents Caribbean countries, have sought to broaden the issue so that it encompasses not just the slave trade across the Atlantic but also the Pacific.

The draft communique says a majority of member states “share common historical experiences in relation to this abhorrent trade, chattel enslavement, the debilitation and dispossession of indigenous people”.

It also refers directly to practices known as “blackbirding”, where Pacific islanders were tricked or kidnapped into slave or cheap labour in colonies throughout the region.

Diplomats said the expectation now was that reparatory justice would be a central focus of the agenda for the next Commonwealth summit in two years’ time in the Caribbean, possibly Antigua and Barbuda.

In the run-up to this year’s summit, there have been growing calls from Commonwealth leaders for the UK to apologise and make reparations worth trillions of pounds for the country’s historic role in the slave trade.

A report published last year by the University of West Indies – backed by Patrick Robinson, a judge who sits on the International Court of Justice – concluded the UK owed more than £18tn in reparations for its role in slavery in 14 Caribbean countries.

Last weekend the prime minister of the Bahamas, Philip Davis, used a visit by Foreign Office minister Baroness Chapman to tell her the fight for reparations was far from over.

Bahamas foreign minister Frederick Mitchell told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “The phrase is apologise, that’s the phrase.”

He said for the Commonwealth gathering, “it’s a easy matter – it may be accomplished, one sentence, one line.”

Asked how much reparations should amount to, Mr Mitchell said it was not just a matter of money but of “respect, acknowledging the past was a wrong that needs to be corrected”.

He said member countries “need the dialog to start out” but “there seems to be even a reluctance to have the dialog”.

A UK authorities spokesperson mentioned they might not touch upon the leak to the BBC, however added: “Reparations are not on the agenda for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting. The government’s position has not changed – we do not pay reparations.

“We are focused on using the summit at [the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting] to discuss the shared opportunities which we can unlock across the Commonwealth – including securing more economic growth.”

It’s understood the Downing Avenue place – that reparatory justice will not be on the agenda – whereas technically appropriate, has angered some Caribbean ministers when it was apparent that the difficulty can be mentioned on the summit.

It’s one in all many points that aren’t technically on the agenda however will nonetheless be addressed and mentioned.

Sir Keir Starmer landed in Samoa late on Wednesday UK time, changing into the primary sitting prime minister to go to a Pacific island nation.

Chatting with reporters en route, he mentioned he needed to debate present challenges with Commonwealth leaders, particularly local weather change, moderately than problems with the previous.

“What they’re most interested in is, can we help them working with, for example, international financial institutions on the sorts of packages they need right now in relation to the challenges they’re facing,” he said.

“That’s where I’m going to put my focus – rather than what will end up being very, very long endless discussions about reparations on the past.

“Of course, slavery is abhorrent to everybody; the trade and the practice, there’s no question about that. But I think from my point of view… I’d rather roll up my sleeves and work with them on the current future-facing challenges than spend a lot of time on the past.”

King Charles arrived in Samoa for a four-day go to on Wednesday and is because of formally open the summit.

On a go to to Kenya final 12 months, the King expressed the “greatest sorrow and regret” over the “wrongdoings” of the colonial period, however stopped in need of issuing an apology, which might have required the settlement of ministers.

Some non-Caribbean nations aren’t unsympathetic in the direction of the British place and wish the summit to focus extra on present challenges – corresponding to local weather change, which is adversely affecting many Commonwealth nations, about half of whom are small island states.

However Caribbean nations appear decided to maintain urgent the difficulty.

All three candidates hoping to be elected this weekend as the subsequent secretary common of the Commonwealth – Shirley Botchwey of Ghana, Joshua Setipa of Lesotho and Mamadou Tangara of Gambia – have made clear they assist reparatory justice.