Two members of St Vincent and the Grenadines Reparations Committee attended an International Reparations Summit in New York from April 9 to 11, 2015.

The two, chair senator Jomo Thomas and deputy chair Curtis M King were part of the Caricom Reparations Commission’s delegation that attended the historic event, which was organized by the Institute of the Black World 21st Century (IBW).{{more}}

The Summit brought together scores of participants from 20 countries in the Caribbean, Europe, Central and South America, as well as from states all over the United States of America for discussions and dialogues on the imperative of reparations for people of African descent around the world.

The Summit adopted several resolutions, including a commitment to consolidate the growing global reparations movement and a call for all governments and civil society organizations in countries around the world with Afro-descendant populations to establish national reparations commissions.

Another resolution recognized the vision of Caricom in establishing the Reparations Commission (CRC) and pledged support for future activities and initiatives of that commission.

Other resolutions supported the establishment of the National African-American Commission (NAARC) and the European Reparations Commission, as well as gave a commitment to organize a global Reparations Summit in 2017 on the European continent.

The Summit declared Congressman John Conyers a global champion of the reparations movement and strongly urged the Congressional Black Caucus and the US Labour movement to support Conyers’ reparations bill (HR40) in the US congress.

Finally, the Summit applauded the General Assembly of the United Nations for its declaration of 2015-2024 as the Decade for People of African descent and UNESCO for its continued support of the ‘Slave Roots Project’ and General History of Africa Project.

The summit was addressed by several outstanding leaders in the Reparations movement, including Professor Hilary Beckles, Actor Danny Glover, Dr Ron Daniels, Rev Jesse L Jackson, Dr Adelaide Sanford and Congressman John Conyers Jr.

Vincentians Maxwell Haywood of the Vincentian Diaspora Committee and Dr Douglas Slater (representing the Caricom Secretariat) also participated in the event.