King Charles said on Friday the Commonwealth should acknowledge its “painful” history, as African and Caribbean countries push for reparations for Britain’s role in transatlantic slavery.
Representatives of 56 countries totalling about 2.7 billion people, most with roots in Britain’s empire, are attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) that began in Apia, Samoa, on Monday. Slavery and the threat of climate change are emerging as major themes.
“I understand from listening to people across the Commonwealth how the most painful aspects of our past continue to resonate,” Charles said in a speech to the summit.
“It is vital, therefore, that we understand our history, to guide us toward making the right choices in future.”
Opponents of reparations say countries should not be held responsible for historical wrongs, while those in favour say the legacy of slavery has led to vast and persistent racial inequality.
From the 15th to the 19th century, at least 12.5 million Africans were kidnapped and forcibly taken by mostly European ships and merchants and sold into slavery. Britain transported an estimated 3.2 million people, the most active European country after Portugal.
Those who survived the brutal voyages ended up toiling on plantations in inhumane conditions in the Americas, while others profited from their labour.
“None of us can change the past but we can commit with all our hearts to learning its lessons and to finding creative ways to right the inequalities that endure,” said Charles, attending his first CHOGM summit as Britain’s head of state.
The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has called for a “full formal apology.”
Summit could call for discussion on reparations
Consecutive British governments, like most former colonial powers, have rejected calls for reparations.
British Prime Minster Keir Starmer has ruled out apologizing for the country’s historic role but said he was open to engage with leaders who want to discuss it.
An Indigenous Australian senator accused King Charles of genocide after he delivered a speech in Australia’s Parliament. The incident has reignited debate about the complicated relationship between the Crown and Indigenous peoples.
There are different types of reparations, from financial payments and apologies to technology transfer and educational programs. CARICOM has its own reparations plan.
Bahamas Foreign Minister Frederick Mitchell told the BBC on Thursday the summit’s draft conclusion, expected to be published on Saturday, had paragraphs calling for a discussion on reparations.
“If we say we want greater equality and equity in the world, the way to do this is to examine what and how reparations might manifest, rather than to shut down the conversation,” said Jacqueline McKenzie, a lawyer at London firm Leigh Day, where her team are investigating the potential for reparations claims.
Climate effects worrisome for Pacific members
During the summit, member countries are also expected to sign the Commonwealth Ocean Declaration that aims to boost financing to ensure a healthy ocean and fix maritime boundaries even if small island countries eventually become unlivable.
More than half of the Commonwealth’s members are small countries, many of them low-lying islands at risk from rising sea levels caused by climate change.
“We are well past believing it is a problem for the future since it is already undermining the development we have long fought for,” the King said Friday. “This year alone we have seen terrifying storms in the Caribbean, devastating flooding in East Africa and catastrophic wildfires in Canada. Lives, livelihood and human rights are at risk across the Commonwealth.”
Charles offered “every encouragement for action with unequivocal determination to arrest rising temperatures” by cutting emissions, building resilience and conserving and restoring nature on land and at sea, he said.
Samoa is the first Pacific island country to host the event, and Prime Minister Afioga Fiamē Naomi Mata’afa said in a speech Friday that it was “a great opportunity for all to experience our lived reality, especially with climate change,” which was “the greatest threat to the survival and security of our Pacific people.”
Two dozen small island countries are among the 75-year-old Commonwealth’s member states, and they are among the world’s most imperilled by rising seas. Her remarks came as the United Nations released a stark new report warning that the world was on pace for significantly more warming than expected without immediate climate action.
