According to data from The Telegraph, African countries that are part of the African Union have begun preparations for an unusual legal claim against their former colonizers. The main goal of this ambitious initiative is to obtain official reparations for years of slavery and colonial rule, based on recent international legal precedents.
The idea of African leaders is inspired by the successful experience of Mauritius, which recently achieved the transfer of the Chagos Islands under its jurisdiction. This occurred after the International Court of Justice in The Hague recognized that the United Kingdom must cease its administration of this archipelago. Expert groups from the AU in Lusaka are currently developing a strategy that will allow the use of similar UN mechanisms to recognize the transatlantic slave trade as a crime against humanity and to compel European countries to make payments.
According to sources, the amounts of compensation could reach trillions of pounds sterling. Lawyers suggest that such payments could take the form of debt forgiveness, targeted funding for development, or preferential economic agreements accompanied by official apologies. This claim concerns not only the United Kingdom but also France, Spain, and Portugal.
African countries plan to collaborate with the Caribbean Community (Caricom), which has long been demanding compensation for "genocide and racial apartheid." Supporters of the claim point to existing legal precedents, such as Germany's payments for the Holocaust and compensation to victims of torture during the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya from Britain. It is also worth noting that the current Attorney General of the United Kingdom, Richard Heaton, previously acted as a lawyer in colonial compensation cases.
This issue is expected to be discussed at the international level on March 25, the day of remembrance for the victims of the slave trade. Ghana's President John Mahama plans to present a resolution to the UN that recognizes the slave trade as the most horrific crime in human history. Since the African Union includes 55 states, their collective voting could significantly influence the obtaining of an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice, which, in turn, would deprive former colonial powers of legal grounds to refuse negotiations.
