President Akufo-Addo says, the call by Africans and Africans in the diaspora for the payment of reparations by European nations who carried out the transatlantic slave trade some 400 years ago is not a plea for alms, but a demand for justice.
The President demanded that reparatory justice must go hand in hand with restitution, adding it should be executed through the return of all cultural properties of African nations that were illegitimately taken from Africa and transported to European countries.
President Akufo-Addo made these comments at the maiden edition of the Accra Reparations Conference 2023 on Tuesday, November 14, 2024.
“Reparations are long overdue, victims of other injustices in human history have rightly received reparations and Africans deserve the same for the damage caused by the transatlantic slave trade,” President Akufo-Addo said.
He insisted that, there must be no reason why the payment of reparations to Africans who suffered from the devastating effects of the transatlantic slave trade should be questioned.
The President, therefore, called on Africa’s slave master to render a formal apology to the entire continent for carrying out the slave trade crime.
The objectives of the Accra Reparations Conference are to; facilitate discussions and knowledge sharing among experts, policymakers, academics, and stakeholders on the topic of reparations, examining the legal and moral grounds for reparations and exploring different models of reparatory justice and exploring mechanisms for truth-telling, acknowledgment, reconciliation, and healing both within African and African diaspora societies.
By Nana Kwaku Aduah
