UN committee presents legal case for broad slavery reparations
This file photo shows a demonstration for slavery reparations.
Countries are legally obliged to provide broad reparations for harms resulting from both direct and indirect involvement in the transatlantic African slave trade, a United Nations committee said on Aug. 31.
Issuing a fresh interpretation of an important international rights treaty, the U.N. watchdog said the accord obliges countries to work to redress the harms caused by slavery and the continuing consequences.
“States parties must implement comprehensive reparatory measures for people of African descent, covering all aspects of remedies,” the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) said in its findings, presented in a document entitled General Recommendation-40.
