Ambassador to CARICOM David Comissiong has said a new phase in the global movement for reparatory justice for transatlantic slavery has begun with the launch of a revised CARICOM Ten-Point Manifesto at a major international conference here.
He told Barbados TODAY at the start of the three-day gathering that he was pleased to be among long-standing pan-African and reparatory justice advocates.
Praising the opening proceedings, he described its presentations as powerful, focused and aligned with the movement’s immediate direction.
Ambassador Comissiong said: “I am over the moon. It is so pleasing to be in the company of all of these wonderful, progressive reparations activists, many of whom have been friends for many years. It is a wonderful atmosphere here. We had a very impressive opening ceremony, and all of the speakers were powerful and very much on point. I am looking forward to the next three days, which I think will be a very important and successful conference.”
The event comes at a crucial time for bringing international efforts together, he said, noting that the global movement must align regional and continental strategies.
“Right now, everything is coming together. The whole reparations movement is building very nicely, but this conference comes at a very opportune time because we need to do the work to ensure that the initiatives taken by CARICOM, the African Union, and the Government of Ghana cohere well, that we are all on the same page, and that we are working together seamlessly. This is a very exciting moment in the reparations movement.”
A central part of the conference was the unveiling of the revised CARICOM ten-point plan which, Ambassador Comissiong said, builds on the original document, making the framework a more comprehensive educational and political tool.
“What we have now is the second iteration of the CARICOM Ten-Point Plan. This is a revised, evolved, and more developed plan.
“In fact, we are now calling it a manifesto for the coming enlightenment. This is a much more substantial version of the plan, and we are going to be able to use this document as a very important teaching instrument. It is going to play a vital role in bringing reparations information and education to the masses of our people.”
Ambassador Comissiong identified two major developments during the past year that, he said, have reshaped the global campaign: a formal partnership between CARICOM and the African Union and a resolution passed by the United Nations General Assembly in March which declared the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans and chattel slavery as the gravest crime against humanity.
“We are now at a stage where we have taken this matter to one of the highest multilateral institutions that has set a precedent for deploying a range of diplomatic strategies across various multilateral bodies, such as the UN Human Rights Council, the Commonwealth Heads of Government Conference, and the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.”
International legal avenues were being prepared to hold former colonial powers accountable, “whether at the International Court of Justice or within various UN treaty supervising bodies”, he added.
While acknowledging the scale of the challenge ahead, Ambassador Comissiong said he was confident about the direction of the movement, attributing its strength to unity across the African continent, the Caribbean and the global African diaspora.
But, he said: “We do not want to be overly optimistic. We know we still have a hard road ahead of us and there is still a lot of work to be done to win this reparations cause, but I think we are well on the way. All the signs are looking very positive. Key to this positivity is the fact that we have come together as a unified force on the continent of Africa, in the Caribbean, and in the global African diaspora.”
(RR)
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