Ghanaian Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said Western support for reparations for trans-Atlantic slavery is growing. Ghana’s campaign prioritizes returning looted artifacts; he said France, Germany and the Netherlands are willing to return them.
Ablakwa said the UK and Portugal had offered support, and the US was willing to work with Ghana’s effort. He also said virtually all European countries that abstained from the March UN vote had reached out to work with Ghana.
The African Union and Caribbean Community Commission on Reparatory Justice adopted a 19-point plan in June; later phases could include formal apologies, debt relief and financial compensation. In March, a UN resolution recognizing trans-Atlantic slavery as “the gravest crime against humanity” passed 123-3, with 52 abstentions. The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database estimates 12.5 million Africans were enslaved and transported across the Atlantic between the 16th and 19th centuries; it says Portugal and Britain were responsible for transporting more than 70% of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic.
