Experts estimate economic harm of US$2tn done by 200 years of chattel slavery but stress this is ‘not an invoice’
Britain stole 25 million years of life and labour through slavery in Barbados, according to new research by a team of international experts.
Their report concludes that Barbados’s population of African descent have suffered damages estimated at up to US$2tn (£1.5tn) from 200 years of chattel slavery.
The head of the research team, Coleman Bazelon, said the total reflected the magnitude of the damage done, but he emphasised that the figure was not a bill for damages but the factual foundation for dialogue.
“This research is not creating an invoice for anybody to pay,” said Bazelon. “It is an accounting of the harm that was done … a recognition of the harm that was done that is the starting point for reconciliation.”
