Jamaican officials will travel to the United Kingdom in September to formally lodge an unprecedented petition with King Charles, seeking legal guidance on their slavery reparations claim against Britain, the Jamaican government announced on Tuesday.
Historic Petition Planned for 6 September
Speaking in the Jamaican Parliament, Culture Minister Olivia Grange confirmed that the delegation will travel on 6 September, a date chosen for its historical significance. 'We intend to petition King Charles on 6 September – an historic day,' Grange said. 'On this date in 1781, the Zong slave ship departed West Africa for Jamaica with 442 enslaved Africans. Throughout the journey the ship ran into trouble and the captain kept throwing enslaved Africans overboard in order to claim insurance for loss of cargo. One hundred and forty enslaved Africans were killed.'
The petition, first announced in June last year, asks King Charles to use his authority to request legal advice from the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London. The Privy Council serves as the final court of appeal for UK overseas territories and some Commonwealth countries. The request seeks guidance on whether the forced transport of Africans to Jamaica was lawful, whether it constituted a crime against humanity, and whether Britain is obligated to provide restitution for slavery and its enduring consequences.
King Charles as Head of State
Grange explained that the request is being made to King Charles 'in his capacity as head of state of Jamaica and from whom we expect protection.' She added that Jamaica has the full support of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). 'This is intended to take Jamaica's mission for reparatory justice to the next level,' she said.
The minister also noted that during Hurricane Melissa last year, which devastated the town of Black River, a monument erected to remember the murdered Africans was 'the only monument standing as if to remind us of our duty to seek reparatory justice.'
Historical Context and Compensation
Grange pointed out that at emancipation in 1834, British planters were compensated for the loss of their 'so-called property,' with England offering £20 million in compensation through a loan that was finally settled in 2015. She added that 'newly emancipated Africans were forced to provide years of additional free labour to the planters, thereby literally paying their enslavers for their freedom.'
The minister highlighted that the Jamaican government has set an example by providing internal reparations to the country's Rastafarian community through an apology and land transfer.
Legal and International Support
The announcement follows the unveiling of a new manifesto from the Caribbean Community Reparations Commission, outlining the 'moral, ethical and legal case for reparations' for the enslavement of African people.
Laleta Davis Mattis, chair of Jamaica's National Council on Reparations (NCR), described the petition as a 'significant milestone in our long pursuit of reparatory justice.' She said, 'This petition reflects the collaborative work of the NCR operating through its legal sub-committee, chaired by Bert Samuels, attorney-at-law, working alongside a team of UK lawyers. On behalf of the council, I extend particular thanks to Frank Phipps KC, whose legal acuity in proposing this route – turning the very vestiges of our colonial legal past to the service of reparatory justice – gave shape to the strategy we have now brought to fruition.'
Deputy chair of the NCR, Bert Samuels, noted that Jamaica's case is now backed by the United Nations' landmark resolution of 25 March, which declared the trafficking of enslaved Africans as the gravest crime against humanity. Samuels said he will be part of a team of lawyers, headed by Jamaica's Attorney General Derrick McKoy, who will argue before the Privy Council on behalf of the formerly enslaved people and their descendants.
Determination Despite UK Opposition
Samuels emphasised that Jamaica remains resolute in its fight for justice, even after the UK insisted it will not pay slavery reparations and abstained from the UN vote, which Samuels described as a 'shameful act.' 'We have learned from the 300-year struggle for freedom itself, which seemed unattainable when we were enslaved. People who have been tied down for three centuries into slavery must have felt hopeless at times. So we are used to a struggle that seems hopeless at times,' he said.
He added that if there is pushback from the Privy Council, it would spark an international outcry. 'The international avalanche of support for freedom and justice of oppressed people, of Jews who were oppressed, of the Japanese who were oppressed, of other persons in minorities in Canada and New Zealand, all those minorities have come together and have sought justice for themselves. Let us hear (the Privy Council) say no, and then we will take to the streets.'
