Guyana calls for reparatory justice and equitable development at UN forum

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has renewed its call for reparatory justice and equitable development for people of African descent, emphasising the need for concrete global action to address the enduring impacts of slavery and colonialism.

Delivering a statement on behalf of the CARICOM Group at the Fifth Session of the Permanent Forum of People of African Descent Fifth Session in Geneva, Switzerland, on Tuesday, Minister within the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, Steven Jacobs, said the international community must move beyond acknowledgement to meaningful solutions.

“We meet at a moment when the pages behind us are well known, but the next chapter remains unwritten,” Minister Jacobs stated, noting that the history of people of African descent has long been shaped by injustice, dispossession and exclusion.

Minister Jacobs referenced the recognition by the United Nations General Assembly of slavery and the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans as crimes against humanity, describing it as an essential step, but one that must be matched with action.

“Acknowledgement alone does not resolve injustice. If left unaddressed, its effects will continue to shape opportunity, access, and development,” he said.

Minister Jacobs underscored that for CARICOM states, the call for reparatory justice is grounded in lived realities and framed by responsibility and equity. He pointed to the CARICOM Ten-Point Plan for Reparatory Justice as a key mechanism advancing accountability, development, and partnership.

He added that for Small Island Developing States, including those in CARICOM, these challenges are further exacerbated by climate change, requiring urgent and coordinated responses.

“Addressing these interconnected realities requires coherence across reparatory justice, reform of the international financial architecture, and urgent, equitable climate action,” he said.

Minister Jacobs stressed that the Second International Decade for People of African Descent must be a “decade of delivery”, where commitments translate into measurable improvements in the lives of people of African descent.

Accompanying Minister Jacobs was the minister within the Ministry of Housing and Water, Vanessa Benn, who also condemned the racist and disproportionate treatment of people of African descent in migrant populations, noting these individuals are in desperate search of safety and secure livelihoods.

“Guyana is pleased that the UN, although long overdue, acknowledges slavery as the greatest crime ever committed against humanity,” she said. [DPI]