Caribbean leaders say UK debt aid does not replace slavery reparations

Caribbean reparations advocates said the United Kingdom's proposal of debt relief and a £40 million infrastructure package for the region does not satisfy demands for slavery reparations. The comments followed Prime Minister Andy Burnham's announcement that the UK would open a dialogue on slavery and apologise, while ruling out direct reparations.

Ralph Gonsalves, a former prime minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines and a senior figure in the reparatory justice movement, warned that treating debt restructuring or development assistance as reparations would be inadequate. He noted that the Caribbean Community’s reparations commission has a 10-point plan that calls for "debt cancellation" and monetary compensation, arguing that existing debts are linked to centuries of colonial extraction.

"When I listened to Andy Burnham, and I listened to the king, they’re talking about what is helpful is not reparations, but for them to work on specific things like debt relief, education, health and climate-change infrastructure," Gonsalves told the Guardian.

Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy, chair of the House of Commons all-party parliamentary group for African Reparations, said the issue centers on agency, stressing that reparative justice must be led by those directly affected.

"When reparative justice arrangements are being made, it has to be made with those who were affected, because if it is done to us, it is not reparations," she said.

Prof. Kingsley Abbott, a human-rights lawyer and director of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, echoed the call for victims' voices to shape reparations, emphasizing the need to make affected communities whole again.

A Foreign Office spokesperson said the prime minister aims to strengthen Commonwealth relationships by confronting the past and focusing on a future of equality, security and hope, and reaffirmed the UK's commitment to work with partners on debt, climate and development issues.