Ghana says its African Reparations Campaign is gaining support from Western countries as African and Caribbean governments push for restitution, formal apologies and other measures under a broader framework for Reparatory Justice for Africa.
Ghanaian Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said several European countries that previously abstained from a United Nations vote on trans-Atlantic slavery have since expressed willingness to work with the Ghana-led initiative.
According to Reuters, Ablakwa spoke at an event on reparatory justice co-hosted by Ghana, Germany and France on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
The campaign is initially focusing on the restitution of cultural artifacts removed from Africa, while later stages under a 19-point plan adopted by the African Union and the Caribbean Community Commission on Reparatory Justice could include formal apologies, debt relief and financial compensation.
The diplomatic push follows a UN resolution passed in March with 123 votes in favour, three against and 52 abstentions.
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123-Vote UN Resolution Advances African Reparations Campaign
The March resolution recognised trans-Atlantic slavery as “the gravest crime against humanity.”
The United States, Israel and Argentina voted against the resolution, while 52 countries, including European Union members and the United Kingdom, abstained.
Ablakwa said the diplomatic situation had changed since that vote.
“Virtually all the European countries that abstained during the vote have reached out and have said they are going to work with us on this journey,” he said.
According to Ablakwa, the United Kingdom and Portugal have offered support, while the United States has indicated willingness to work with the Ghana-led effort.
The comments represent Ghana’s assessment of growing international engagement with the African Reparations Campaign. They do not, however, mean that all participating countries have agreed to every element of the wider reparations framework.
The framework for Reparatory Justice for Africa includes several stages, making the specific commitments of individual governments important as discussions progress.
Restitution Leads Reparatory Justice for Africa Effort
Returning cultural property is currently the first priority.
France, Germany and the Netherlands have indicated willingness to return artifacts, according to Ablakwa.
“Restitution is very important to this journey…These artifacts ought to be returned to the motherland,” he said.
The focus gives the African Reparations Campaign an immediate area where governments can pursue specific actions while discussions continue over broader forms of reparatory justice.
Ghana has placed the restitution of cultural property and heritage within its wider international campaign. The country has also been working with the African Union to build continental support for the initiative.
The approach extends beyond the return of artifacts. The 19-point framework provides for later discussions covering measures including apologies, debt relief and financial compensation.
Those elements of Reparatory Justice for Africa are likely to require more extensive negotiations between African, Caribbean and Western governments.
12.5 Million Africans at Centre of African Reparations Campaign
The historical scale of the trans-Atlantic slave trade remains central to the campaign.
About 12.5 million Africans were enslaved and transported across the Atlantic between the 16th and 19th centuries, according to the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database.
Enslaved Africans were transported principally to South America, the Caribbean and North America and forced to work on plantations, in mines and across other parts of colonial economies.
Portugal and Britain were responsible for transporting more than 70% of enslaved Africans carried across the Atlantic, according to the database.
The economic and social consequences of that history underpin the arguments being advanced through the African Reparations Campaign.
The campaign maintains that reparatory measures should address both historical injustice and its enduring consequences for Africans and people of African descent.
The emerging international discussions therefore extend beyond individual acts of restitution to the wider question of what Reparatory Justice for Africa should involve.
Reparatory Justice for Africa Moves Into Diplomatic Phase
Ghana has taken a leading diplomatic role in bringing the issue before international institutions.
The latest event at the UN General Assembly was co-hosted with Germany and France, demonstrating that discussions are now involving both African governments and European states connected to the wider debate.
The African Union and Caribbean partners are also coordinating their positions through the 19-point framework adopted at a conference in Ghana in June.
The Ghanaian government’s claim of increased Western engagement suggests that the African Reparations Campaign is moving into a stage where attention will increasingly turn towards specific commitments.
However, support for dialogue, restitution or cooperation should not automatically be treated as agreement on financial compensation, debt relief or every other element of the framework.
Each measure could involve separate political, legal and diplomatic negotiations.
That distinction will be important as Ghana and its partners continue building international support for Reparatory Justice for Africa.
What This Means For Africa
The latest diplomatic engagement gives African governments another opportunity to move the reparations debate from broad historical recognition towards discussions about specific forms of redress.
The African Reparations Campaign has already established a framework that extends beyond financial compensation. Restitution of cultural property provides one of the clearest immediate areas where measurable progress can occur.
Returning artifacts could restore culturally significant objects to African countries and institutions while creating a practical starting point for wider negotiations.
The involvement of the African Union also gives the campaign a continental dimension. Ghana’s Foreign Ministry has described reparatory justice as one of the priorities being advanced through cooperation with the AU, while Ghana continues to promote greater continental coordination around the issue.
For Reparatory Justice for Africa, the challenge will be converting expressions of willingness to engage into clearly defined actions.
The March UN vote demonstrated that substantial international disagreement remained. Although 123 countries supported the resolution, 52 abstained and three voted against it.
Ablakwa’s statement that countries which previously abstained are now reaching out therefore represents a notable diplomatic development from Ghana’s perspective, but the scope of each country’s support will matter.
Restitution, apologies, debt relief and financial compensation involve different political and economic considerations. Progress in one area will not necessarily mean agreement in another.
The scale of the history behind the African Reparations Campaign also explains why the discussion extends beyond Ghana. Millions of Africans were forcibly transported across the Atlantic over several centuries, affecting societies across the continent and creating lasting connections with communities throughout the Caribbean and the Americas.
A coordinated African and Caribbean approach could therefore give participating governments a stronger framework for negotiations than separate national campaigns.
The immediate test for Reparatory Justice for Africa will be whether the growing diplomatic engagement described by Ghana produces concrete agreements, beginning with the return of cultural artifacts.
If that happens, restitution could become the first measurable stage of a much longer international process over how governments address the historical and continuing consequences of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
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Image credit: Ministry Of Foreign Affairs
