Why are Commonwealth leaders asking the UK for reparations?

Calls for the UK to pay slavery reparations have grown louder in recent years.

Soon after the Second World War, former British colonies across Asia, Africa and the Caribbean started gaining their independence.

This independence movement led to some countries demanding financial compensation for all they had suffered under British rule.

More recently, social media, the Black Lives Matter movement, changes in the monarchy, and the challenges posed by climate change have seen the campaign for reparations build momentum.

This week, both the King and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer are in Samoa for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) where they both face renewed calls for reparations.

What are reparations?

In 1661, Barbados became the first British colony to operate under a “slave code”.

This gave Britain the legal right to take people from its colonies in Africa on deadly ship journeys to the Caribbean, where they were treated as property and made to work for no money.

They grew sugar, cotton, and tobacco, among other produce that was then sold for profit, bolstering Britain’s economy and infrastructure.

The Royal Family was also heavily connected to the slave trade.

Slavery was abolished by the UK in 1834, with the British Empire only formally coming to an end with its handing back of Hong Kong to China in 1997.

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Following abolition, the British government paid former slave owners compensation – for loss of “property” – that totalled £20m (the equivalent of £300m today).

No compensation or offer of relocation was offered to the former slaves themselves or their families. This is what Commonwealth countries are asking for now in reparations.

How are the royals involved?

As head of state, British kings and queens were heavily implicated in slavery.

Starting in the 16th century, Elizabeth I sold a ship to one of the country’s biggest slave traders John Hawkins.

Both James I and Charles I granted monopolies on the trade of slaves in Africa to merchants connected with the royals.

In 1663, Charles II founded the Royal African Company, which took more slaves to the Caribbean than any other institution. He also appointed judges to bolster the legal framework for the system – effectively making it a state enterprise.

Successive monarchs then defended slavery and used its power to defend British slave bosses.

Before he became king, William IV, then the Duke of Clarence, boasted of time spent in the Caribbean befriending planters and contracting a sexually transmitted disease. Before the trade was abolished in 1834, he claimed enslaved people were “comparatively in a state of humble happiness”.

What is being asked for?

Fifteen Caribbean governments, which form CARICOM (Caribbean Community), have created a 10-point plan for “reparatory justice”.

This includes a formal apology for slavery, a development programme, which helps nations with their economies, increasing difficulties caused by climate change, and to move out of poverty.

It begins: “Over 10 million Africans were stolen from their homes and forcefully transported to the Caribbean as the enslaved chattel and property of European.

“This trade in enchained bodies was a highly successful commercial business for the nations of Europe.

“The lives of millions of men, women and children were destroyed in search of profit. The descendants of these stolen people have a legal right to return to their homeland.

“A repatriation program must be established and all available channels of international law and diplomacy used to resettle those persons who wish to return.”

It argues that “European colonial rule is a persistent part of Caribbean life” and the repercussions are the “primary cause of development failure in the Caribbean”.

Why £205bn?

As the reparations movement has gained pace, experts have tried to put a figure on how much Britain and other former colonial powers should pay.

Earlier this year, Reverend Dr Michael Banner, Dean of Cambridge’s Trinity College, claimed Britain owed £205bn in reparations.

In 2023, a report carried out by an American consultancy firm, the American Society of International Law, and the University of the West Indies, concluded the UK owes 14 countries a total of $24trn (£18.8trn).

The report was led by leading International Court of Justice (ICJ) judge Patrick Robinson.

Some UK institutions have offered reparations for their role in the slave trade – including the Church of England, parts of the NHS in Scotland, and the University of Glasgow.

What has the UK said?

Both the King and Sir Keir have avoided directly addressing the subject on their trip to Samoa.

In a speech on Thursday, the King said he understood how “the most painful aspects of our past resonate” and how “history [can] guide us to make the right choices in our future”.

He referred to the “wrongs of the past” and said his family would commit to “learning lessons and finding creative ways to right inequalities that endure”.

Previously, he expressed his “profound sorrow” over the slave trade, with his son Prince William describing it as “abhorrent” last year.

Although the royals have failed to go any further – the King has suggested he would support research into his family’s links with slavery.

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Meanwhile, Sir Keir has said reparations are still off the table.

“On the question of which way we’re facing, I think we should be facing forward,” he told reporters.

“I’ve talked to a lot of our Commonwealth colleagues in the Commonwealth family and they’re facing real challenges on things like climate in the here and now.

“And in all the conversations I’ve had with them, what they’re most interested in is can we help them working with international institutions, financial institutions on the sorts of packages they need right now in relation to the challenges they’re facing right now.”