Britain’s leaders likely to face slavery reparations questions at a summit of former colonies

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Britain’s leaders will likely face uncomfortable questions about reparations for the trans-Atlantic slave trade at a summit of nations it once colonized, after Caribbean leaders said they would thrust the matter into the spotlight at the event in Samoa.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer had said that compensation for slavery wasn’t on the agenda at this week’s biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, or CHOGM, in the Samoan capital, Apia. But the issue threatens to boil over anyway, presaging an uneasy summit for Starmer and Britain’s King Charles III, who is battling cancer but is also attending.

The Commonwealth group of 56 nations has “taken on issues other people have always run away from” before, the organization’s Secretary-General Patricia Scotland told The Associated Press on Thursday when asked if financial reparations would feature in talks. She didn’t confirm BBC reports that a draft text of the statement to be issued by leaders after meetings on Friday and Saturday includes an acknowledgement of calls for “reparatory justice” over the slave trade.

The text of the statement could change before its release, and British officials reportedly vetoed a plan for a separate declaration on reparations, the BBC said. Caribbean and African leaders have led the push to address the reparations issue.

The summit should involve “a ‘come to Jesus’ moment where we truly look at one another in the eye and say, ‘look, this is what happened,’” Bahamas Prime Minister Philip Davis told Politico on Thursday. Davis confirmed that he is among the leaders who want their final joint communique to mention reparations and who hope to have a “frank” discussion of the matter with Starmer.

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