Jamaica is intensifying its campaign for £7.6 billion in reparations for slavery, employing a strategy that includes lobbying King Charles during his visit to London. A government delegation has presented a petition to Buckingham Palace as part of efforts to seek financial redress from the UK.
The Jamaican government's approach centers on the historical context that after Britain abolished slavery in 1833, compensation was paid to slave owners, not to those who were enslaved. This compensation, amounting to £20 million at the time—equivalent to 40% of the British Treasury's annual income—was financed by a substantial loan that was not fully repaid until 2015.
Olivia Grange, Jamaica's minister of culture, stated upon her arrival in the UK that Britain continued to pay slave masters until 2015, as enslaved people were considered property. She questioned why Jamaica should not pursue reparations given this historical financial arrangement. While acknowledging that some British taxpayers might object, Grange suggested that a majority might consider that answers are required.
The petition submitted to King Charles, in his capacity as Jamaica's head of state, poses three questions for consideration by the Privy Council: whether the enslavement of Africans in Jamaica was legal under English law; whether it violated international law; and whether Britain has a current legal obligation to provide redress.
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council serves as the highest court of appeal for Commonwealth nations, and its judges could potentially review these questions. However, British governments have historically maintained a stance against paying slavery reparations. A royal source indicated that the King does not possess personal discretion regarding referrals to the Privy Council. A Buckingham Palace spokesperson noted that the King has expressed a commitment to addressing historical injustices for the benefit of present-day communities.
More than 12 million Africans were transported across the Atlantic from the 16th to the 19th centuries, with many destined for British sugar plantations in Jamaica. In addition to the reparations campaign, Minister Grange is also engaging with British Museum executives to request the repatriation of three carvings discovered in a cave in 1792 and subsequently taken to the UK. These artifacts, created by the indigenous Taino people of Jamaica before their population was decimated by European arrival and disease, are described as depicting a birdman, a rain-making deity, and an object used in ritualistic drug consumption.