By James Amoh Junior
Accra, Aug. 31, GNA – The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) has called for comprehensive reparatory justice measures for people of African descent over the enduring effects of slavery and colonialism.
In its newly adopted General Recommendation No. 40, the Committee said States should address historical injustices arising from the trafficking of enslaved Africans and racialised chattel slavery, including their continuing consequences.
The recommendation was adopted during CERDās 118th session, held from August 10 to 25, 2026, and provides guidance on the legal basis for State responsibility for reparatory justice.
CERD said racism and racial discrimination could not be effectively eliminated without examining and addressing the harms and continuing consequences of the trafficking of enslaved Africans and racialised chattel slavery.
It noted that millions of Africans were forcibly captured and transported across the Atlantic and Indian Oceans between the 15th and 19th centuries for sale and enslavement.
The Committee said the most recent estimate indicated that about 15.4 million people were uprooted, with only about 10.7 million surviving the journeys, while countless others died through murder, violence, exploitation, suicide or disease.
It described the system as the largest forced deportation in history, saying it caused lasting harm to Africa through the destabilisation of societies, economic dependency, cultural destruction and immense loss.
The recommendation said the legacies of slavery continued to influence contemporary laws, policies and institutions, contributing to racial profiling, disproportionate use of force by law enforcement officials, disparities within criminal justice systems and unequal access to housing, education, employment and healthcare.
It said anti-Black racism, which developed to sustain chattel slavery, had persisted after abolition and continued to perpetuate structural inequalities across generations.
CERD also highlighted the economic consequences of slavery, saying centuries of stolen labour generated vast wealth that accumulated over generations and contributed to extreme inequalities between those who benefited from chattel slavery and those who suffered from it.
The Committee said States Parties to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination had obligations to address contemporary racial discrimination and structural inequalities linked to colonialism and slavery.
It said reparatory justice should include restitution, compensation, rehabilitation, satisfaction and guarantees of non-repetition, while recognising individual and collective harms.
The measures, it said, should be comprehensive, transformative, gender-responsive and intergenerational, and developed with the meaningful participation of people of African descent and affected communities.
CERD recommended that States establish national structures and policies to advance reparatory justice and dismantle race-based systems of domination and inequality across institutions.
It also called for the full public disclosure of the history of the trafficking of enslaved Africans and racialised chattel slavery.
States involved in the system, it said, should release relevant information and preserve public access to archives and records containing details of events, institutions, beneficiaries and victims.
The Committee recommended the establishment of independent commissions to investigate and reconstruct the historical record, with the participation of people of African descent and civil society.
On economic and social inequalities, CERD said States should adopt special measures to address structural racism and disparities in health, education, wealth, life expectancy and mortality.
It stressed that reparatory justice should go beyond data-driven affirmative measures to address the broader consequences of centuries of dehumanisation, economic marginalisation, limited political participation and psychosocial trauma.
The Committee also called on non-State actors, including businesses, banks, insurers, universities and religious organisations that participated in, facilitated or benefited from slavery and related colonial practices, to acknowledge their historical roles.
Such institutions, it said, should open relevant archives, participate in truth-telling processes and contribute to reparatory measures commensurate with their involvement and benefits obtained.
The measures could include restitution, compensation, rehabilitation, memorialisation, and educational and community-based initiatives.
CERD emphasised that apologies and acknowledgements alone should not substitute for concrete reparatory action.
The recommendation called for accurate and objective teaching of the history of slavery and colonialism in schools and public discourse, alongside memorialisation and public remembrance.
It urged States to develop national action plans on reparatory justice that were action-oriented and time-bound, and developed in consultation with people of African descent and reparations committees.
The adoption of General Recommendation No. 40 follows decades of international advocacy for reparations, including efforts by the African Union, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Reparations Commission and organisations representing people of African descent.
In 2001, the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action recognised slavery and the slave trade, particularly the transatlantic slave trade, as crimes against humanity and among the major sources of racism and racial discrimination.
GNA
Reporter: James Amoh Junior
Email: [email protected]
Edited by: Kenneth Sackey