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We commend and thank him for his sincere and positive leadership of this organization. In the same vein, Saint Lucia wishes to express its endorsement of the candidate of the Republic of Guyana, Ms. Caroline Rodrigues-Birkett, for the post of Secretary General. Her distinguished record of public and international service speaks directly to the kind of leadership this moment demands. On 25th March 2026, the General Assembly approved one of its most historic and consequential resolutions that declared the trafficking of enslaved Africans and racialised chattel enslavement of Africans as the greatest crime against humanity. This resolution, and the subsequent establishment of the High level Global Advisory Council on Reparatory justice is a very significant step in the search for reparations for the transatlantic slave trade and the enslavement of Africans in the Americas and the Caribbean. I want to thank the President of Ghana for spearheading and championing this resolution. Saint Lucia congratulates the Government of Jamaica on its successful petition to the British monarch for him to refer three questions to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council over the legality of the enslavement of Africans in Jamaica. Mr. president, reparations are not about vengeance. They are about truth, acknowledgement, repair and transformation. Reparations are not about seeking charity or revisiting history for its own sake. History is not behind us when its consequences remain embedded in wealth, power, institutions, and opportunity. Reparations are about addressing the continuing effects of slavery and colonial exploitation, restoring dignity, advancing development, and building more equitable
Mr. President, few bridges carry greater historical meaning or future potential than between Africa and the Caribbean. The Atlantic, once a passage of forced displacement and separation, is becoming a pathway of return and reconnection. Africa-Caribbean cooperation must move beyond sentiment. Our shared history must help build a shared future through capital, trade, technology, knowledge, culture, and coordinated diplomacy. Mr. President, sought cooperation must be felt in jobs, businesses, knowledge transfer, and opportunity. It complements, not replaces, North-South cooperation and the obligations of developed countries. Greater accuracy must also include justice. At the Second African-Caribbean Summit, our leaders signed the Addis Ababa Declaration, and this year the African Union's reparation mechanism and the Caribbean Reparations Commission held their first joint meeting, establishing permanent coordination. On March 25, 2026, this General Assembly adopted Resolution 80/250, declaring that trafficking of enslaved African and racialized chattel enslavement of Africans is the gravest crime against humanity. Saint Kitts and Nevis welcomed this historic recognition. But recognition cannot be the destination. Repertory justice must move from recognition to remedy, and from words to action. Distinguished colleagues, when we speak of repertory justice, sovereignty, and solidarity, Haiti cannot be an afterthought. Approximately 1.47 million people are eternally displaced, while nearly half of the population faces acute food insecurity. In the very near future, the first round of presidential and legislative elections will take place. The Haitian people must choose their leaders freely, credibly, and safely.
Mr. president, the pursuit of restorative justice gained new momentum with the adoption of the Resolution on Slavery and Transatlantic Trafficking of Enslaved Africans in this hall in March of this year. This development is relevant for Suriname and equally important for the countries of the Caribbean region. The discussion is no longer about whether slavery and colonialism have caused lasting consequences, negative consequences. We know we are living them. We increasingly must focus on how to overcome these effects. And on the question of what form reparations should take to achieve that. How countries that have benefited from slavery and colonialism will compensate the affected. That is the important issue now.
Mr. president brings me to another matter. On March 25th of this year, a historic resolution was passed in this General Assembly. The overwhelming majority of states acknowledged the truth that we in the Caribbean long knew the trafficking of enslaved African and racialized chattel enslavement of Africans is the gravest crime against humanity. And we know it. Regrettably, we still carry the scars. I reminded us that it was my country, Barbados, that passed the first slave code that the world knew in 1661 to deal with chattel slavery. Others, regrettably followed, including the infamous Code Noir of 1685. That Code Noir was only repealed this year, and then hence the wounds are still raw. We in Barbados accept the moral responsibility of removing the cross of slavery with its horrific consequences. We must affect healing through Reparatory justice, for it is the right thing to do. As a result, in July of this year, Caricom Heads of Government approved the revised Caricom ten Point Plan for Reparatory justice for the Caribbean, for Africa, and for those countries concerned. The honest engagement must begin, and I thank President Mahama of Ghana for coming to the table with the force with which he has come. We do not ask for reparations without accepting responsibility for our own self repair, which we have undertaken for decades. I want to be very clear about this, Mr. Speaker. Mr. president, I make the same mistake as President Mohammed. We are parliamentarians. I want to make this clear. Let there be no doubt, Mr. President, that the mindset that established, justified and sustained slavery is the same mindset that sustains the inequities and the inequities within the power structures of this very institution and within the international financial architecture. It is the same mindset. It is the same mindset that caused a global map to remain grossly inaccurate on the size of Africa for centuries.
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No. 5
Sierra Leone09/22 · first at about 8 min2 mentions
Through ECOSOC, Sierra Leone will champion a development system that responds more effectively to Africa's priorities. Mr. president, restoring trust and delivering for all must also embrace the unfinished cause of Reparatory justice. In March, this Assembly adopted a resolution led by Ghana and supported by the African Union and Caribbean Community, recognising the trafficking and racialized chattel enslavement of Africans as the gravest crime against humanity. For Sierra Leone, this history is neither abstract nor distant. From Bunce Island, in our own river estuary, thousands of Africans were forcibly transported across the Atlantic into enslavement. Freetown, our capital, would later become a home for formerly enslaved and liberated Africans. This history is woven into our national identity. However, the consequences did not end with abolition. Their legacy continues to be reflected in enduring disparities in wealth, power and opportunity across our world. Reparatory justice is therefore not a plea for charity. It is a call for acknowledgement, formal apology the return of cultural heritage fair redress and guarantee of non-repetition. Sierra Leone stands with Africa the Caribbean and the wider African diaspora in advancing this cause, not to remain captive to the past, but to build a more just and equitable future.
Mr. president, the injustice of this century has a history, and history presents its bill. This month, Caricom advanced its ten point plan for Reparatory justice, building on this Assembly's recognition in March of the trafficking and racialized enslavement of Africans as crimes against humanity. The wealth of empires was built on the stolen lives of our ancestors, including enslaved children. It is important that the former colonizers have recognized this atrocity as recognition was, and still has been a vital step. But recognition without repair is only a sentence on a page. We call on the nations that profited to engage seriously with reparatory justice. We call on them to engage in truth, apology, restoration and development. Mr. president, the founders of this organization made their promise in the ruins of war. We should not need ruins to find our own courage. The United Nations was not created to manage the decline of its own promise. It was created to build on those promises. These are not uncertain times. The only uncertain thing is how we respond to these times.
We renew our call for Taiwan's meaningful participation in the United Nations system and its specialized agencies. Mr. president, let us also restore trust through support for Reparatory justice. The past is not the past when its consequences still shape who is rich and who is poor in the world today. The Caribbean community has for over a decade advanced a ten point plan for Reparatory justice, seeking acknowledgement, repair and genuine partnership to address the historic injustices of the enslavement of African people and the near annihilation of our indigenous populations. We are encouraged that in March 2026, this Assembly strongly adopted a resolution sponsored by Ghana and supported by the African Union and Caricom, declaring the trafficking of enslaved Africans and racialized chattel enslavement of Africans as the gravest crime against humanity. This is a hopeful and historic event, and after the follow up conference in Accra in June, momentum grows, so necessary actions must follow. When the continent from which our enslaved ancestors were taken and the islands to which they were brought in chains, spoke in one voice, this chamber listened.
The absence of education, health care, decent employment, and the loss of homes and livelihoods to climate change leave communities as vulnerable as conflict itself. Our understanding of security must therefore extend beyond the absence of war to include the conditions that allow people to live with dignity, opportunity and hope. Mr. president, in The Gambia, this understanding has guided our democratic journey from 2017 to date. We have undertaken the difficult work of rebuilding institutions, strengthening the rule of law, expanding access to justice and confronting the legacy of past human rights violations. Our transitional justice process continues through implementation of the recommendation of the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission. We have strengthened institutional accountability, established the Special Prosecutor's Office to advance investigations and prosecution arising from the TRC process. We are proud of the progress we have made, but we remain conscious that democracy is never a finished project and requires continuous institutional strengthening, adherence to the rule of law, constitutional order, dialogue and consensus building on issues. On the 5th of December 2026, the government people will again exercise their sovereign democratic right to choose their president. This will be another important milestone in our democratic journey, and we need the support of the international community in this regard. Our government is committed to ensuring that the elections are peaceful, transparent, credible and inclusive, and conducted in accordance with our Constitution, national laws and democratic standards. This is the Democratic Party. Government remains committed to pursuing a path in which institutions are strengthened, citizens are heard, differences are resolved peacefully, and democratic gains are consolidated for future generations. Mr. president, on development, the government's recovery focused National Development Plan provides the framework for accelerating our socio economic transformation. We are investing in roads, energy, schools, healthcare, agriculture and digital infrastructure while promoting economic diversification, private sector investment and value addition. We are expanding opportunities for women and young people, improving lives, uncertainty, human capital upon which our future depends. I seize this opportunity to thank all the bilateral and multilateral partners of The Gambia for your continued support and partnership.
I return to this issue of belonging at the end of my speech. But, Mr. President, last year, from this very podium, I made a solemn pledge on behalf of Africa and the global African diaspora to seek full international recognition of the transatlantic trafficking and racialized chattel enslavement of Africans as the gravest crime against humanity. Some cautioned that we were reopening old wounds, but we came not to provoke division or render empty judgment. We came to seek healing. And true healing requires truth, and truth requires acknowledgement, and acknowledgement must lead to meaningful repair. Mr. president, for centuries, this tragedy was rendered in the passive voice as though the millions of African men, women and children just vanished into the shadows of time. Mr. president, they do not vanish. They were hunted. They were captured. They were trafficked. They were bought, they were sold. They were exploited and exchanged for profit. They were ripped from their families and communities they belonged to. They are unpaid labor built. The cities, industries, banking institutions, and empires of the modern Western world. Meanwhile, the African continent was left depopulated. Split families, structural disruption and generational trauma. Mr. president, on 25th March this year, the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Ghana had the honor of tabling resolution 8250 in this very August Assembly. Mr. president, 123 nations voted to affirm this fundamental truth that the transatlantic slave trade and chattel enslavement were the gravest crimes against humanity I stand with respect at this podium to thank every nation that voted for justice, and am deeply grateful to our brothers and sisters in the African Union, the Caricom, Celac and our partners across the Global South. That resolution was not a mere gesture. It was adopted because the structural legacies of those historic crimes continue to fuel systematic racism, economic marginalization, and a global financial architecture that is weighted against Africa and people of African descent. Since the passage of the historic resolution, we welcome the positive overtures from many countries and institutions that have joined the dialogue on reparative justice. The Netherlands, Germany and France have all made positive moves to join the conversation on Reparatory justice. Mr. president, real repair demands structural transformation. It requires dismantling the persistent engines of exploitation, unfair global trade, predatory resource extraction, discriminatory, discriminatory credit ratings, unsustainable debt burdens of the global South, and the continued export of raw materials from Africa. While real value addition and job creation occur elsewhere. Mr. president, the injustices of the past remain embedded in today's power structures.
Sovereignty for all peoples across the board. My third conviction is that we must not yield to a divided world. Many describe this rift. Many talk about this rift between the North and the South. We won't be able to tackle any of the challenges our planet faces if we give in to this rift, and it is fueled by double standards, this rift. However, we need the North and the South to reconcile so that they can tackle climate health development challenges. And that's why over the last few years, we've launched many more initiatives. and the African Union. When it came to shoring up economies together with the International Monetary Fund to reform special drawing rights and make progress for African economies. And we held our word $100 billion in special drawing rights allocated to helping African countries. We must stay the course, ensuring that we remain united without pitting anyone against anyone else. That is why it's important that the global health infrastructure must remain intact. We will continue reforming that architecture, but we will never weaken the WHO. We must put the finishing touches on the Pandemics Treaty. Africa CDC should be in a position to combat Ebola ever more effectively. We must be clear sighted as we reform our official development assistance, ODA. We must ensure that our investments exhibit greater solidarity, that they're more effective. This is what we did with the Paris Pact for people and Planet in 2023. Also at the Africa Summit in Nairobi, we also agreed to build a new consensus around investment that stands in solidarity with other states. Countries are allocating funds, and yet the needs of the countries of the global South are growing as well. We need to go faster and go further to help the IMF and the World Bank To be more effective, we must bolster the effectiveness of the instruments at their disposal so that we can mobilize the private sector better, creating guarantee mechanisms to ensure that in emerging economies, middle income countries and developing countries, a more effective response can be mounted to the problems they face. This is the kind of new partnership we must forge in order to ensure that there is no gap, no division, between the North and the South. In a similar vein, this north south partnership requires and will require us to wield our capacity to reopen a dialogue about our common history, our cultural relationships and remembrance. This is what France has tried to do over the last few years, working on the basis of joint scientific works we've instituted a number of bills to ensure that we restitute cultural artifacts in a way, forging a partnership in the name of culture, history and remembrance. And this with a number of countries of the South, for instance, with Ghana and together with all interested parties, all interested partners, we will work on restorative justice reparations. This is a matter of respect, and it is on this respect that the partnership between the North and the South will be built. Moving on global trade, it needs to be more effective and more equitable. This is what we sought to achieve at the G7 meeting France convened, bringing together countries of the South, ensuring that there is common ground, a dialogue going beyond the G7 with China, India, Brazil, South Korea, Kenya the list goes on so that we can improve our collective organization, ensure that we work on rare earth minerals, rare earth metals, critical minerals. As well as other areas. At the end of the day, we must shoulder this responsibility, ensuring that there is no rift between these two blocks. And in a similar fashion, we must not yield on the climate and biodiversity. We've done a great deal over the last few years, ever since the Paris Agreement 11 years ago. The principles are still valid today and must be defended. We must stay the course. But I understand the doubts some harbour on this front. Let us not cede. If we are to defend our planet, defend the climate, defend biodiversity, we need proactive multilateralism and this is what we try to achieve at the One Planet Summit.
Mr. President, digital transformation and the rise of artificial intelligence are rightly considered to be one of the great promises of our time. The Global Digital Compact must become a reality: affordable connectivity, skills transfer, data protection, and a governance of AI in which developing countries decide instead of simply being users. The transformation also requires facing history with lucidity. The wounds left behind by colonization are still being felt on our continent. Reparations are not simply reopening a feud of the past. They are a demand for justice for the future, recognition of the wrongs committed, restitution of cultural goods and archives, equitable cooperation, debt relief. There are many possible paths. The African Union has prioritized this, and the CAR fully supports these efforts.
Civil, political and economic, social and cultural rights require equal protection and our best advance through dialogue, cooperation, capacity building and national ownership On the 40th anniversary of the declaration of the Right to Development, Zimbabwe calls for the adoption and translation of its principles into binding international commitments, racism and all forms of discrimination continue to deny millions the equal enjoyment of human rights and development, accountability, education and awareness, as well as support for victims and engagement on Reparatory justice, remain critical. Pathways to truth, healing, restored dignity and equality. My country, therefore joins other Member States in calling for the full implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action. Mr. president, Zimbabwe supports U.N. reforms that reduce duplication, improve coordination, modernize systems and strengthen filled implementation.
From the offgoing and in the spirit of the charter for a United Nations that delivers for all, the UN has a responsibility to protect and facilitate the participation of its all members and observers in its work. Mr. President, the adoption of the United Nations Resolution on the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade in March 2026 is the beginning of a journey—a journey towards truth, acknowledgment, healing, and justice for millions of Africans and people of African descent whose lives were forever changed by slavery, colonialism, and other historical injustice. As we commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Debent Declaration and Program of Action, we are reminded that racial discrimination must not have any place in our societies, and that restorative remedies, including reparations, must be put in place to address those historic injustices. Mr. President, Namibia, congratulate the outgoing Secretary-General, Mr. António Guterres, as he nears the end of his tenure.
