Geneva, Aug. 31, GNA – The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) has said that States are obliged to provide reparatory justice over the enslavement of Africans and racialised chattel slavery.
It recommended comprehensive measures combining monetary and non-monetary interventions, including structural reforms, restitution, compensation, rehabilitation, satisfaction and guarantees of non-repetition.
In a new general recommendations published on Monday August 31, CERD noted that the harms of the trafficking in enslaved Africans and racialised chattel slavery continued today through systemic racial discrimination and structural inequalities, giving rise to State obligations to provide reparatory justice.
The Committee said anti-Black racism, created to sustain chattel slavery, had survived long after its abolition, with its legacies continuing to influence contemporary laws, policies and institutions.
It said, racialised violence, stereotyping and structural barriers continued to affect educational attainment, economic mobility, health outcomes and environmental safety, resulting in persistent disparities across generations.
“The intergenerational psychosocial, health and economic harms rooted in enslavement have been reinforced by policies perpetuating anti-Black racism,” it said.
It stressed that efforts to eliminate racial discrimination could not be effective, comprehensive or lasting without a full commitment to examining and addressing the harms and continuing consequences of the trafficking in enslaved Africans and racialised chattel slavery.
The Committee also linked present-day inequalities in wealth to centuries of stolen labour, which generated vast wealth that compounded over generations, creating extreme material inequalities between those who benefited from slavery and those harmed by it.
Addressing concerns that the original acts occurred before the adoption of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), the Committee said the passage of time should not prevent States from recognising historical injustices or adopting appropriate measures for reparatory justice and accountability.
It said States remained bound by their present obligations under ICERD to eliminate contemporary racial discrimination and address structural inequalities and other continuing consequences associated with colonialism, the trafficking in enslaved Africans and racialised chattel slavery.
The Committee further said the denial of effective reparatory justice constituted a distinct form of racial discrimination.
The new General Recommendation 40 provides guidance to States on reparatory justice for the harms and continuing consequences of colonialism, the trafficking in enslaved Africans across the Atlantic and other routes, and racialised chattel slavery.
The Committee urged States to repeal or revise laws and policies that perpetuated racism, racial hierarchies or discrimination, or hindered reparatory justice.
It also called for transformative changes to institutions and policies that continued to sustain racial inequality.
States were urged to ensure the full and effective participation of people of African descent and affected communities in policymaking and in designing and implementing reparatory justice measures.
The Committee said private and non-State actors, including religious organisations, universities, businesses, banks, insurers and other financial institutions that participated in, facilitated or profited from slavery and related colonial practices should also contribute to reparatory justice.
Such institutions, it said, should acknowledge their historical roles, open relevant archives and contribute to reparatory measures in proportion to their involvement and benefits obtained.
The Committee said acknowledgements and apologies should be accompanied by concrete action and should not substitute for other forms of reparation.
It further emphasised education and memorialisation, urging States to accurately teach the history and contemporary legacies of slavery, combat misinformation and racial superiority ideologies, and recognise the contributions of people of African descent.
The Committee recommended time-bound national action plans developed in consultation with affected communities, saying reparations must ultimately seek to dismantle race-based hierarchical domination and subjugation across institutions.
GNA/Credit: UN Human Rights Office