The Reconstituted National Committee on Reparations held its media launch at the National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA) on July 8.
On October 3 last year, Minister of Foreign and Caricom Affairs Dr Amery Browne announced the appointment by Cabinet of a national reparations committee whose chairs will sit on the Caricom Regional Commission on Reparations.
According to the UN, "Victims have a right to reparation.
"Reparations must be adequate, effective, prompt and proportional to the the gravity of the violation and harm suffered."
The UN said slavery is regarded as one of the "darkest chapters of human history," as it lasted over 400 years, with over 15 million men, women and children being victims of the transatlantic slave trade.
Speaking at the launch, director of the Caricom Centre for Reparations Research (CRC), UWI, Mona Campus, Jamaica, Prof Verene Shepherd.
Shepherd said her organisation is ready to help the TT Reparations Committee with research, as it has been doing regionally and internationally to other committees.
"We are a small centre with just three members of staff.
"We are committed to the primary mandate, which is to promote research on and engage in advocacy around the legacies of the conquest and genocidal actions against indigenous peoples, the harm done because of the transatlantic trafficking of enslaved Africans and African chattel enslavement (and) "additionally, the impact of colonialism and its legacies on the Caribbean; and help to bring justice and positive transformation to societies affected by these legacies including communities affected by deceptive Indian indentureship."
Caricom's ten-point action plan
The CRC has outlined a ten-point plan in its path for justice from 11 European countries – France, Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Germany, Denmark, Belgium and Norway.
The ten-point plan includes, a full and formal apology – "Groups subjected to deceptive systems of indenture deserve a full and formal apology. Only a full and formal apology can allow for the healing of wounds and the destruction of cultures caused by colonialism (enslavement and other forms of oppression of peoples)."
Indigenous peoples development programmes – "Indigenous peoples within member
states of Caricom have been subjected to forced migration within countries across the region."
The plan outlined these indigenous people experiences – brutal working conditions and genocide.
The indigenous people's population was 30,000 in 2000.
"Their descendants remains traumatised, landless (Europeans seized their land), and are one of the most marginalised groups in the region.
"Rebuilding these communities cannot be done without responsible European states taking on the responsibility of correcting the damage where possible and restoring the communities that still exists."
Funding for reparations to Africa – "The descendants of African peoples stolen from their homes, lands, people and cultures have a legal right of return."
The
