A UN committee has said countries are legally obliged to consider reparations for the transatlantic slave trade and take other measures to address the enduring legacy of racial discrimination it says persists today.
Guidance published on Monday by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination stated that the obligations arise from a legally binding 1965 convention on racial discrimination, not from the legal standards that existed when the slave trade took place.
The committee described the approach as a “paradigm shift” away from debates over historical responsibility that have often been used by governments to resist reparations claims.
“States parties must implement comprehensive reparatory measures for people of African descent, covering all aspects of remedies,” said the UN document, which may be cited in courtrooms.
At least 12.5 million Africans were taken and sold between the 15th and 19th centuries in what the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination called the largest forced displacement in history.
