Jamaican officials will travel to the UK in September to formally lodge an unprecedented petition with King Charles, seeking legal guidance on their slavery reparations claim from Britain. The trip, planned for 6 September, aims to advance Jamaica’s mission for reparatory justice, according to Culture Minister Olivia Grange.
The petition asks the King to request legal advice from the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council on whether the forced transport of Africans to Jamaica was lawful, if it constituted a crime against humanity, and whether Britain owes restitution for slavery and its enduring consequences. The request is made to King Charles as Jamaica’s head of state.
Grange noted that 6 September marks the anniversary of the Zong massacre in 1781, when 142 enslaved Africans were thrown overboard. She emphasised that at emancipation in 1834, planters were compensated £20 million, a loan only settled in 2015, while newly freed Africans were forced to provide additional free labour.
Laleta Davis Mattis, chair of Jamaica’s National Council on Reparations, called the petition a significant milestone. Bert Samuels, deputy chair, said Jamaica’s case is backed by a recent UN resolution declaring slave trafficking a crime against humanity, despite the UK’s abstention and refusal to pay reparations.
