The fight for reparations for centuries of slavery, genocide, colonial exploitation and neocolonial practices has gained fresh momentum, following an “Expert Consultative Meeting” in Johannesburg, South Africa, held from August 20 to 21, 2025.
The gathering, convened by the Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU) and the Centre for Applied Legal Studies of the University of Witwatersrand, brought together lawyers, academics activists and policymakers from across the continent to chart a unified strategy.
Participants resolved to seek an Advisory Opinion from the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, acting under Article 4 of the Protocol to the African Charter.
The demand for reparations is anchored in the historical injustices of slavery, colonial dispossession and systemic exploitation, and its advocates insist that repair must go beyond financial compensation.
Speaking at the meeting, veteran Ghanaian journalist and activist, Kwesi Pratt Jnr, emphasised that reparations should address structural inequalities entrenched by centuries of oppression.
“No amount of money can be sufficient compensation for the crimes committed against the African people by the capitalist states. What we seek is a complete reset of the world and its institutions to ensure the equality of all peoples and the building of a new world in which poverty and all forms of exploitation will be banished forever.”
Mr Pratt, who is also General Secretary of the Socialist Movement of Ghana (SMG) and a member of the Organising Committee of the Pan African Progressive Front (PPF), called African leaders to take a decisive stand in securing justice for their people.
The African Union (AU) has in recent months strengthened its advocacy by designating Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama as its official champion for Reparations.
President Mahama, who has consistently spoken in support of the cause, has described the historical atrocities against Africans as “deliberate, coordinated acts of plunder carried out with impunity,” which continue to define the inequalities of today’s global order.
These remarks are echoed in his foreword to a forthcoming book by Kwesi Pratt Jnr titled Reparations; History, Struggle, Politics and Law.
The book, which provides a detailed examination of the historical foundations and legal battles for reparations, is expected to make a significant contribution to the global reparations discourse. It will be officially launched in Accra on September 9, 2025.
As part of the advocacy, over 3,000 workers, trade unionists and activists across Africa will converge in Accra on August 29 to rally for debt cancellation for countries on the continent.
Dubbed the the Pan African Debt Cancellation Rally and Trade Justice, the event is on the theme: “Reparations and Reparative Justice for an African Financial Architecture and Transformation.”
It is meant to drum home inimical loan agreements and credit facilities that have made countries on the continent worse off, leading to high levels of underdevelopment.
It is being organised by the African Regional Organisation of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC -Africa) in partnership with the Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC).
The week-long programme is being staged in collaboration with the African Conference on Debt and Development (AfCoDD).
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