CARICOM Reparations Commission retreat begins Friday
The CARICOM Reparations Commission is currently meeting in Jamaica at the UWI Mona. The purpose of this retreat is to review the work of the Commission to date and to have an in-depth discussion on the reparations strategy and related issues going forward. Elections for the Executive of the Commission will also be held. CRC Members will also use the opportunity to provide updates on the activities of their committees in 2018 and projections for 2019. The meeting will conclude on Saturday.
The Caribbean Reparations Commission is a regional body created to Establish the moral, ethical and legal case for the payment of Reparations by the Governments of all the former colonial powers and the relevant institutions of those countries, to the nations and people of the Caribbean Community for the Crimes against Humanity of Native Genocide, the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and a racialized system of chattel Slavery.’
Discussions on the issue of Reparations for Native Genocide and Slavery were initiated at the Thirty-Fourth Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM in July 2013 in Trinidad and Tobago. At the inaugural discussions, Heads of Government expressed unanimous support for the initiative and defined a governance arrangement for its implementation.
The CRC, which is chaired by University of the West Indies Vice Chancellor Prof. Sir Hilary Beckles, first met in September 2013 in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. National Committees on Reparations have been established in 12 CARICOM Member States to date.