Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade: European Union plans for reparatory justice

In Brussels, Belgium, the Declaration of the European Union, EU, and of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, CELAC, Summit 2023 agreed that slavery and the slave trade are a crime against humanity.

Below are excerpts from the document of declaration:

1. We, the Heads of State or Government of the European Union, EU, and of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, CELAC, and the Presidents of the European Council and the European Commission met in Brussels on 17 and 18 July 2023 for the third EU-CELAC Summit.

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10. We acknowledge and profoundly regret the untold suffering inflicted on millions of men, women and children as a result of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

We underline our full support to the related principles and elements contained in the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, including the acknowledgment that slavery and the slave trade, including the transatlantic slave trade, were appalling tragedies in the history of humanity not only because of their abhorrent barbarism but also in terms of their magnitude, organised nature and, especially, their negation of the essence of the victims, and that slavery and the slave trade are a crime against humanity.

CELAC referred to the CARICOM ten point Plan for Reparatory Justice.

This Declaration was endorsed by all countries with one exception due to its disagreement with one paragraph.

Read the full declaration HERE.