By: Dr Carla Barnett
September 18, 2026
Good evening, everyone. It’s a wonderful day to be in beautiful Barbados.
I will stand on the protocols already established by our able Master of Ceremonies earlier, and go directly into my remarks.
I want to join in the welcome to the Third Regional Conference on Reparations. We gather this evening in beautiful Barbados at a critical moment in our pursuit of reparatory justice for the crimes against humanity committed in Africa, the Caribbean and the wider African diaspora: genocide and the dispossession of indigenous peoples, trafficking in enslaved Africans and African chattel enslavement in the Caribbean and Americas. These are the crimes against humanity that we can never forget.
The Caribbean has consistently asserted that reparations is fundamentally about justice. It is about recognition, accountability and transformation, and about building a just and equitable future for the descendants of those who, as the chattel of colonial owners, endured untold suffering, loss of life and freedom.
The CARICOM Ten-Point Plan for Reparatory Justice: A Manifesto for the Coming Enlightenment provides a comprehensive framework for this agenda. It places at the centre of our efforts the needs of our people, including public health, education, psychological rehabilitation, cultural development, support for indigenous communities, gender justice, debt cancellation and monetary compensation. It reminds us that reparations must be meaningful and transformative, addressing both the historical wrongs and the resulting contemporary consequences.
The expanded revised version of the Ten-Point Plan that was adopted by the Fifty-First Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM in July this year, and which will be relaunched this evening, brings new vision to the reparations agenda. It records the tremendous progress made in the past thirteen years by the global community and heralds an age of enlightenment, and a new global order based on equity.
Our Heads of Government established the CARICOM Reparations Commission in 2013, with oversight by a Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee on Reparations, chaired by Barbados – currently in the person of the Honourable Mia Mottley – to signal the fundamental importance of this agenda to the dignity and development of the Caribbean Community. On behalf of CARICOM, I express deep appreciation to Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, Chairman of the Commission, and the Executive and membership of the body, for their tremendous and tireless advocacy, and intellectual leadership of the movement. We also recognise their courage in not backing down from difficult conversations and for leading this regional movement for reparatory justice to a new level of global consciousness. We appreciate the efforts and we congratulate and will continue to support.
Since the establishment of the CARICOM Reparations Commission in 2013, twelve CARICOM Member States have established national reparations commissions or committees, demonstrating the Region’s collective commitment to advancing the cause of reparatory justice through coordinated national and regional action. I am advised that all our Commissions are represented here this evening so that merits warm congratulations and appreciation.
Our progress reflects strong partnerships and expanding joint advocacy. Our advocacy has been significantly strengthened by the partnership between CARICOM and the African Union (AU). The Second Africa – CARICOM Summit of Heads of Government, held in Ethiopia in September 2025, adopted the “Addis Ababa Declaration on Transcontinental Partnership in Pursuit of Reparatory Justice for Africans and People of African Descent through Reparations”, which provides an important framework for our continued collaboration on the reparations agenda. It also served to build momentum towards the adoption by the United Nations of the landmark resolution “The Declaration of the Trafficking of Enslaved Africans and Racialised Chattel Enslavement of Africans as the Gravest Crime Against Humanity” on 25 March this year. It embodied a good partnership among Africa, CARICOM and other supporting states, with all CARICOM Member States voting in favour of its adoption.
Additionally, the African Union Year for Reparatory Justice (2025), which was extended to a Decade, and the impactful leadership of His Excellency John Dramani Mahama, President of Ghana and AU Champion for Reparatory Justice, have served to fuel and advance our shared agenda. We are deeply appreciative of the collaboration and solidarity of the African Union, and welcome all the representatives who have joined us in Barbados today, and I want particularly to recognise my colleague from the African Union. Mr Ajowaily, we will listen to you shortly.
Partnerships with the United Nations (UN) human rights organisations have also been vital to this process. The UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent, the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent and the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, all of which have benefitted from the strong and strategic leadership of Caribbean women (including Professor Verene Shepherd, Dr. Barbara Reynolds, Dr. June Soomer and Ms. Gaynel Curry). We continue to work closely with the Reparations Commission to advance reparations within the United Nations.
We anticipate that our Heads of Government will make strong statements on reparatory justice at the upcoming 81st session of the UN General Assembly and will participate in the High-Level Meeting to Commemorate the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, commencing next week in New York.
The Community is also preparing to advance reparations on the agenda of the upcoming Twenty-Eighth Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting which will be hosted by the Government of Antigua and Barbuda in November this year – that’s in two months’ time. The advocacy and activism therefore continue.
Furthermore, the CARICOM Reparations Commission has developed strong partnerships with the National African American Reparations Commission whose representatives are also participating in this Conference, with The Repair Campaign, which has given generous support to staging this Conference, and with the Open Society Foundation. We welcome all of you to this meeting today.
The partnership with civil society is equally important because the reparations movement has never belonged solely to governments. It has been sustained by scholars, activists, community leaders, artists, faith-based organisations, youth and citizens who have kept the demand for justice alive across generations. Your knowledge, advocacy and lived experience are indispensable to the work before us. I, therefore, welcome all our civil society delegates to this Conference as well.
I also recognise and welcome the presence of representatives of the Indigenous Peoples – of the Garifuna, the Kalinago and the Maroons. As First Peoples of this Region, your history, rights and aspirations must be respected and supported. We look forward to hearing your voices within the deliberations and to your contribution to defining the next steps.
Finally, we must also ensure that the voices of our youth remain central. They will carry the torch and will inherit the opportunities created by our collective efforts. Their participation is essential if reparatory justice is to become a living instrument for transformation.
As we open this Third Regional Conference on Reparations, let me express our deep appreciation to Prime Minister Mia Mottley, the Government of Barbados, and the Planning Committee for this Conference for the excellent arrangements put in place for this convening.
This Conference provides an opportunity to reaffirm our principles, renew our commitment to unity and, critically, to strengthen our strategy. We must translate advocacy into sustained diplomatic engagement, research into evidence-based historical recognition to inform policy and programmes that improve the lives of our people.
I am confident that this Conference will strengthen our resolve, deepen our partnerships, and move us closer to the justice that our people have sought for generations. I anticipate spirited and productive deliberations.
(The author is the Secretary General of the CARICOM)
Email your opinions, letters and commentaries to: letters@caribmagplus.com