Eyes on reparations as King visits Caribbean

The CARICOM Reparations Commission has labelled November’s Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in St John’s, Antigua and Barbuda, as the “reparations CHOGM”, insisting that the issue must take top priority.

“The region is mobilised, the governments are mobilised, so there is no way to describe this CHOGM meeting other than the reparations CHOGM. That is what it is,” Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, chair of the commission, said at a press conference last week.

“We are going to make sure that that is what it is,” he stressed.

Beckles noted that CHOGM – the highest-level decision-making and consultative forum of the Commonwealth nations, the majority of which are former British colonies – is occurring on the heels of major developments in the global reparations movement.

These include the United Nations General Assembly’s March resolution formally declaring the transatlantic trafficking and racialised chattel enslavement of Africans as the “gravest crime against humanity”; the revised CARICOM 10-point plan for reparatory justice, approved by heads of Government in July; and the third CARICOM regional conference on reparations in September.

CHOGM will take place on November 1-4. King Charles, the head of the Commonwealth, will address the opening ceremony on November 3. He will be accompanied in Antigua and Barbuda by Queen Camilla.

Buckingham Palace has said the King’s would not “shy away from the ‘darkest days of our past’, as His Majesty has decribed them”. He used the phrase in a specch in Barbados as the island became a republic in 2021, removing his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, as head of state.

Last Thursday, Commonwealth Secretary General Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey told Sky News that a formal apology for slavery from King Charles “wouldn’t hurt” and that the “time has come” for a serious conversation regarding reparations.

Calling for a “dialogue of decency” around the reparations cause, Beckles said conversations should recognise reparatory justice as enlightenment that advances the well-being of the human species.

“There’s gonna be tremendous civility, yes ... there’s gonna be tremendous flexibility,” he said of the intended dialogue.

“There will be no attempt to embarrass [His Majesty] or any member of the Commonwealth, but in the back of everyone’s mind there’s going to be the dialogue of reparations,” he said, adding that CARICOM has presented a framework for these conversations.

However, Dorbrene O’Marde, chairman of the Antigua and Barbuda Reparations Support Commission, stated that there are no specific reparation activities taking place within CHOGM. But, he said, there are a number of side events and forums in the CHOGM programme, where he is “hoping” that discussions on reparation will take place.

The 2026 CHOGM will be held under the theme ‘Accelerating Partnerships and Investment for a Prosperous Commonwealth’. Leaders will meet with investors, philanthropists, and development partners to finance proposals relating to climate, trade and youth employment.

Alongside the high-level meetings, four forums will be held – a youth forum, women’s forum, people’s forum and business forum. Additionally, there will be four side events, covering eye health, sport for development and peace, blue finance and innovation, and governance and democracy.

However, O’Marde stressed that CHOGM should not ignore the role it has to play in keeping in focus the demands for reparatory justice.

“We see CHOGM also as the potential vehicle able to translate into moral and political action, the various statements of its chairperson, King Charles III, who has acknowledged the Commonwealth’s historical connection to slavery and colonialism and who has expressed personal sorrow over the suffering caused by enslavers,” he said.

During the 2024 CHOGM in Samoa, King Charles, while stepping up calls to address the issue of reparation directly and apologise for the slave trade, told leaders that the “most painful aspects of our past continue to resonate”.

“It is vital, therefore, that we understand our history to guide us to make the right choices in the future,” he said. “Where inequalities exist ... we must find the right ways and the right language to address them.”

“We, in Antigua and Barbuda, expect no less at CHOGM 2026,” O’Marde stated. He said correspondence has already been sent to the King, insisting that he address the slave trade.

He pointed to the formal apologies issued by the Church of England and Church of Scotland for their historical role in the transatlantic slave trade, and argued that the British government and Monarch should follow suit as a starting point.

“No apologies from both government and monarch reeks of gross insensitivity to the demands of citizens of the Caribbean,” he said.

Meanwhile, Beckles appealed to Charles’ humanity in supporting the reparations movement.

“I am appealing to the man, I am appealing to Charles Windsor – a parent, a grandparent. A man today who reflects upon the history of his family and he can see the enrichment that slavery has presented to his family; he can see that the wealth he is passing on to his children and grandchildren all came out in significant sums to this process of the chattelisation of the African people, “ he said.

“We are calling upon the King as a man, as a human brother, to provide leadership to this organisation over which he presides.”

The King’s Caribbean visit, from October 27 to November 4, will also see him visiting Guyana and The Bahamas.

sashana.small@gleanerjm.com