Support to the CARICOM Reparations Commission

COLONIALISM REPARATION

Starting from the second half of 2013 the Caribbean nations started demanding reparations for the genocide of the native people and slavery, with the creation of reparations Committees and the request to the United Nations General Assembly during the general debate of its 68th session.

On December 9, 2013 the Regional reparations Commission met to define its action plan, asking that the European nations responsible for the transatlantic slave trade, slavery and genocide of the native people, especially the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Denmanrk engage with the Caribbean nations in a restoring dialogue to accommodate the current heritage of these crimes and that the Caribbean nations lead the dialogue in a diplomatic, conciliatory and morally edifying way.

The Commission has then identified six key aspects of the Caribbean conditions that are the direct consequence of the transatlantic slave trade, slavery and genocide of the native people on which diplomacy and restoring actions must focus: public health, education, cultural institutions, cultural deprivation, psychological trauma and scientific and technological backwardness.

Finally, the Commission has met with the law firm Leigh Day, which will provide together with eminent Caribbean lawyers, legal assistance on the request for reparations for the damage caused by the transatlantic slave trade, the slavery and the genocide of the native people.

On January 27 and 28, 2014 the regional reparations Commission again met to end the first interim report to that will be submitted at the next meeting of the Heads of Government of CARICOM on March 10-11, 2014.

In support of the request for reparations of CARICOM some reparations Committees have already been formed inGuadeloupe, Martinique and Saint Kitts and Nevis.

Colonialism Reparation supports the path taken by the regional reparations Commission and calls on all Member States of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) that have not yet done it (Bahamas, Dominica, Grenada, Haiti, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Trinidad and Tobago) to form as soon as possible their own national reparations committee as decided during the thirty-fourth summit of the Heads of Government of CARICOM.

The Caribbean nations are demanding reparations

On July 6, 2013 the thirty-four summit of the Heads of Government of CARICOM decided to promote actions to monitor the reparations for the genocide of the native people and slavery by setting up some "national reparations committees" in each member State and a "regional reparations Commission" composed of the chairmens of the national committees.

The First Regional Conference on Reparations was held in Kingstown, the capital of Saint Vincent and The Grenadines, from September 15 to 17, 2013 with the attendance of twelve Caribbean nations and the presence of representatives from the UK, France, the Netherlands, the United States and Canada. The conference outlined the objectives of the "regional reparations Commission", proposed the relating offices that will be ratified by the Heads of Government of CARICOM, decided to create a web site of the Regional Commission and urged for setting up some national committees where they do not exist yet.

The general Debate of the 68th session of the UN General Assembly was held from September 24 to October 1, 2013 in New York; during the debate the delegates of Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia,Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago demanded reparations for the genocide of the native people and slavery. In the final press conference of the President of the General Assembly the request for reparations of CARICOM was evoked as well.

Colonialism Reparation supports the request for reparations for the genocide of the native people and slavery presented to the United Nations General Assembly by the members of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and calls on the former colonizers (United Kingdom, France, The Netherlands, etc. ) to apologize and pay compensation for the colonial period. This decision will help create a climate of friendship and cooperation among peoples and set an extremely positive precedent in international relations, promoting the supremacy of the "force of law" on the "law of force".