Browne calls for reparation talks at CHOGM

FOREIGN and Caricom Affairs Minister Dr Amery Browne says the issue of reparations and the evil of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade is not something the Commonwealth can ignore.

Browne spoke on these matters when he addressed a meeting of foreign ministers at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Apia, Samoa on October 24.

The CHOGM began on October 21 with a series of precursor meetings which included the Commonwealth youth, people and business fora.

The formal opening ceremony of the CHOGM begins on October 25. The feature of the ceremony will be an address to Commonwealth leaders by King Charles III.

The leaders will meet in subsequent executive sessions and a final retreat before the CHOGM ends on October 26.

A statement issued by the Foreign and Caricom Affairs Ministry on October 24, said Browne focused primarily on the necessity of dialogue within the Commonwealth on the issue of reparatory justice.

Browne advised his colleagues that this is essential in the Commonwealth’s pursuit of a resilient common future.

In his intervention, Browne covered the ongoing negative impacts of chattel slavery, colonialism, and genocide committed against native peoples, and the role of regional and multilateral organisations for acknowledgement, apology, and meaningful justice to be realised.

He also dealt with a recent decision taken by the British government that suggested that reparations would not be on the CHOGM agenda for consideration.

Browne said, “There should be no place for anything resembling imperial arrogance at the CHOGM.”

At Emancipation Day celebrations in Port of Spain in August, the Prime Minister said Caricom intends to speak “forcefully” on the issue of reparations at the meeting.

Dr Rowley said, “The Caribbean leaders took a decision this week to very forcefully speak to the Commonwealth as one voice and there is one particular country with a new king and Labour Government, with an outstanding mandate and we look forward to the reaction in October.”

On October 20, TT National Reparations Committee chairman Dr Claudius Fergus rejected a recent position taken by the British government that reparations was not on the agenda of the CHOGM. The CHOGM began on October 21 and ends on October 26.

On October 22, historian Dr Rita Pemberton also rejected the British government’s position on reparations not being on CHOGM’s agenda.

Pemberton, a Newsday columnist, said, “The UK will ultimately have to face its responsibility for its brutal inflictions on its former colonies.”

In a statement on October 21, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby spoke about his family’s connection to the slave trade.

On the same day, Scottish writer Alex Renton said Welby’s disclosure about his family’s connection to the slave trade underscores the need for people to speak about the evil it inflicted on generations of people and to work to right the wrongs caused by this tragic chapter in the world’s history.

Renton discovered his familial connection to the Fergussons.

He wrote about it in 2021 in his book, Blood Legacy: Reckoning with a Family’s Story of Slavery.

Renton visited the family’s estates in Tobago and Jamaica.

He is also a founding member of the Heirs of Slavery group that works to encourage other families enriched by slavery wealth to acknowledge their history, apologise and support campaigns for reparations in Europe and the Caribbean.

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