African, Caribbean bloc backs 19-point slavery reparations plan
What's next: The African Union and CARICOM plan to take the proposal, including a global fund and debt relief, to the next U.N. General Assembly.
African and Caribbean nations meeting in Accra, Ghana, endorsed a 19-point plan seeking formal apologies, financial redress and debt relief from countries that benefited from the transatlantic slave trade. The document, adopted by the African Union and the Caribbean Community Commission on Reparatory Justice after a three-day conference, also calls for a Global Reparations Fund, the return of looted cultural property and ancestral remains, and reforms to international financial institutions. Leaders said the plan would be presented at the next U.N. General Assembly. The push follows a March U.N. vote recognizing transatlantic slavery as the gravest crime against humanity, approved by 123 countries despite opposition from the United States, Israel and Argentina.