A Joint Declaration Arising from "Building Power For Reparatory Justice: a Pan African Civil Society Organisations and CARICOM Reparations
Commission Dialogue".
September 2-3, 2025 | The Hague, Netherlands
This Declaration emerges from the RootsSynergy Roundtable Dialogue organized by the Europe Pan-African Forum for People of African Descent (EPAF-PAD), LPS (National Platform Dutch Slavery Past)-Associated member of the Caricom Reparations Commission and NARECO-NL (National Reparations Commission NL), the CARICOM Reparations Commission, and partner organizations including the International Decade for People of African Descent, International Network of Scholars & Activists for Afrikan Reparations (INOSAAR), Europe Wide Consultative Council for Afrikan Reparations (ENGOCCAR), the African Union African Diaspora Sixth Region High Council, PARCOE (Pan-Afrikan Reparations Coalition in Europe), African Diaspora Network, Creative Resilience International, The Kingdom of Kush, AWSI (African World Studies Institute), Durban Plus25, NiNsee (National Institute Dutch Slavery Past and its Heritage), RADAR Foundation, and the Netherlands State's Commissioner- National Coordinator against Discrimination and Racism.
The Dialogue brought together African civil society organizations across Europe with CARICOM Reparations Commission representatives to address the representation crisis where "some delegations claim to represent African Diaspora communities without ensuring meaningful involvement or consultation with those communities living in Europe." This crisis reflects the broader challenge of ensuring substantive African Heritage Community representation rather than merely descriptive representation where authentic community voices, interests, and self-determined priorities are represented, not just individuals who may share heritage characteristics but lack community accountability and mandate.
* Understanding Reparatory Justice & Global Frameworks - examining cultural, psychological, technological, economic, legal, social and political dimensions of reparations and international legal standards
* Critical Analysis of Organizing Partnerships - exploring the difference between representation and authentic community voices, examining how organizations and states can support rather than marginalize Afrikan Heritage Community civil society voices, and creating accountability mechanisms
* CARICOM-Europe Relationship Analysis - analyzing representation dynamics, distinct colonial experiences in European contexts, multi-generational trauma and healing, and developing Pan-African Europe-specific reparations frameworks.
* Power Analysis and Strategic Engagement - understanding institutional interests and constraints, identifying where interests align and diverge, and building genuine partnerships based on shared goals.
* Community Self-Determination Structures - building independent Pan-African diaspora organizations, democratic participation and leadership development, and community-led healing and organizing models.
* Regional Action Planning - identifying immediate actions and long-term goals, resource mapping and mutual aid networks, and coordination strategies for multi-country advocacy
STRATEGIC LOCATION: The Netherlands was chosen as the venue because;
* It is the headquarters of the African Union African Diaspora Sixth Region High Council and the National Platform of the Dutch Slavery past (LPS), Associated Member of the Caricom Reparations Commission.
* it is a location where the Dutch Government, the Royal Crown, Governments of many Dutch Cities and Provinces, Banks, including the Dutch Central Bank, the Council of Churches apologized for crimes against humanity caused by the trans-Atlantic slave trade and slavery.
* It is home to The Hague, renowned as the City of Peace and Justice and residence of the International Court of Justice.
We jointly recognize that effective reparatory justice requires authentic partnership between African Heritage Communities in Europe and CARICOM Reparations Commission representatives, grounded in mutual respect, shared African frameworks, and commitment to "Nothing About Us Without Us."
To strengthen relationships and dialogue between African Heritage Communities in Europe and CARICOM Reparations Commission representatives through mutual learning - understanding diaspora experiences and aspirations while also learning about CARICOM reparations work including its strengths and limitations. We seek to ensure we are not divided and misruled, while allowing for autonomy of voices and recognizing various perspectives within both civil society and CARICOM state reparations commissions.
Participatory Reparatory Justice means reparations processes that are designed, implemented, monitored, and evaluated with the meaningful participation and decision-making power of affected communities themselves. It goes beyond consultation to ensure that affected communities - both those who experienced direct harm and subsequent generations living with its continuing impacts - have genuine ownership over the reparations process.
This approach recognizes that:
* "Nothing About Us Without Us"- no reparations decisions can be made without authentic community participation.
* Affected communities are the primary agents of their own repair and restoration.
* Substantive representation (authentic community voices with accountability mechanisms) must replace merely descriptive representation.
* Community self-determination drives the process rather than external institutional interests.
* Holistic restoration encompasses spiritual, social, economic, ecological, and political dimensions as defined by communities themselves.
This approach contrasts with top-down reparations programs where institutions design solutions for communities rather than with them, ensuring that reparatory justice serves community-defined needs and priorities rather than institutional or state agendas.
We ground our collaboration in:
* Ubuntu (interconnected liberation)
* Maat (truth, justice, balance)
* Serudj Ta (the ancient African ethical imperative that calls us to raise up that which is in ruins, to repair that which is damaged, to rejoin that which is separated, to replenish that which is lacking, to strengthen that which is weakened, to set right that which is wrong, to make flourish that which is insecure and undeveloped)
* The Banjul Charter on African Human and Peoples' Rights, which establishes peoples' rights to self-determination, to freely dispose of their wealth and natural resources, and to their economic, social and cultural development
Central to our approach is the principle of cognitive justice recognizing that African epistemologies and conceptualizations of repair offer comprehensive frameworks that go beyond Eurocentric reparations models, frameworks and laws. Serudj Ta represents the meaning of reparations using African epistemologies, providing a holistic understanding of restoration that encompasses spiritual, social, economic, ecological, and political dimensions. We assert the necessity of elevating African knowledge systems and philosophical frameworks as foundational to reparatory justice, rather than limiting ourselves to Western legal concepts that often reduce reparations to monetary compensation or narrow programmatic interventions.
We acknowledge the foundational work of previous declarations that guide our approach:
* The 1993 Abuja Proclamation declared us "Convinced that the pursuit of reparations by the African Peoples on the continent and in the Diaspora will itself be a learning experience in self-discovery and in uniting experience politically and psychologically."
* The 1994 Birmingham Declaration called upon "all people of African origin in the Caribbean, Africa, Europe, the Americas and elsewhere to support the movement for reparations and join forces with a view to forming a strong united front capable of exposing, confronting and overcoming the psychological, economic and cultural harm inflicted upon us by peoples of European origin."
* The 2025 London Pan-African Declaration "With Regards to the 'The London Conference, 125 years later: Pan-Africanism and a Dialogue on Reparations" established principles for transforming "existing regional bodies such as the African Union and CARICOM...into effective vehicles for the realisation of Pan-Africanism by ensuring substantive African representation and direct participation of African people, Indigenous leadership formations, and grassroots movements in their decision-making processes."
* The Berlin Pan-African Conference Declaration on Durban Plus 25 (2025) by EPAF-PAD and the AUADS 6th Region High Council Europe, which declares 2026 as the Year of the Durban Declaration and Program of Action, establishing a coordinated European campaign to mobilize political will for full implementation of the DDPA and combat Afrophobia while building pan-African unity across Europe.
We acknowledge the pioneering initiatives developed by African Heritage Communities in Europe that advance reparations struggle "in the belly of the beast":
* The establishment of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Afrikan Reparations in the UK (October 2021) creating formal legislative space for reparations advocacy.
* African Reparations Marches on 1st of Mosiah (August) building annual mobilization and community organizing traditions
* Atonement and Reparations Motions providing templates for local and regional reparations actions globally
* The Stop the Maangamizi Campaign's demand for All-Party Parliamentary Commissions of Inquiry for Truth and Reparatory Justice (APPCITARJs) at the level of national parliaments and the European Parliament, supported by PARCOE amplifying the voices of African Heritage Communities of reparatory justice worldwide in Europe
* The 2023 UK Reparations Conference Statement from the APPG for Afrikan Reparations supporting the All-Party Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry for Truth and Reparatory Justice proposal.
* The Pempamsie Mpango Pan-African Reparations Plans of Alternative Progression being championed in the UK by the Stop the Maangamizi Campaign, which is linked to advocacy of non-territorial autonomy as a place and land-based exercise of reparatory justice in the diaspora.
* The International Network of Scholars and Activists for Afrikan Reparations (INOSAAR) Principles of Participation, which provide ethical frameworks for authentic community engagement and are being adopted by institutions to guide their dialogue and work with social movements and communities of reparatory justice interest in Europe and beyond, including their use in the University of Edinburgh's Decolonised Transformations Reparatory Justice Programme.
* Innovative frameworks on Planet Repairs emanating from African reparations organizing in Europe, which are particularly relevant to African and Caribbean nations who are worst impacted by the climate and ecological crises. Planet Repairs refers to:
"when safeguarding the rights of past, present and future generations; the need to proceed from a standpoint of Pluriversality that highlights the nexus of reparatory, environmental and cognitive justice in articulating the impetus to repair holistically our relationship with, and inseparability from, Mother Earth, Environment and the Pluriverse giving due recognition to Indigenous Knowledges in contrast with western-centric Enlightenment ideals that separated Humanity from Nature and thereby justified exploitation for capital accumulation"
an INOSAAR definition based on PARCOE's work (Esther Xosei, PARCOE, 2021; Nicola Frith, INOSAAR, 2021)
* The Joint Netherlands Legal Institutionalization Initiative (2023) coordinated by Dr. Barryl Biekman, Chair of the National Platform Dutch Slavery Past, which provides a framework for enshrining the Dutch State's and the Kingdom of The Netherlands apologies in national law and establishing legal mechanisms that transform recognition into enforceable reparatory justice measures.
* The Resolution to accompany the Brussels Declaration on the Establishment of the Europe Pan African Coalition on Reparatory Justice (November 2024) by EPAF-PAD, which mobilizes the African diaspora across Europe to advocate for reparatory justice, strengthen European coalitions for reparatory justice through solid partnerships, harmonize frameworks for reparatory justice to ensure clarity and unity, and prepare for the African Union's declared Year of Reparations (2025) with the theme "justice for Africans and People of African Descent through Reparations"
* Land rights and Indigenous African identity frameworks as advanced in the Declaration on African Indigeneity and Land Reparations (April 2025) by Dr. Barryl Biekman on behalf of and co-sponsored by the Kingdom of Kush; the African Union African Diaspora Sixth Region High Council, and partners including KROTOASA Foundation, National Platform Dutch Slavery Past, Tiye International, National Reparation Commission NL, EPAF-PAD Belgium, Institution of Financial Unity, Europe Pan-African Forum for People of African Descent, Europe Pan-African Coalition on Reparatory Justice, and Guyana Reparations Commission, which affirms that Indigenous African peoples on the continent and people of African descent who have retained and recultivated their African Indigeneity in the diaspora have collective rights to reparatory justice that centers land restitution, territorial restoration, and the recognition of African Ancestral Trust governance models that reject colonial frameworks of land ownership in favour of ancestral understandings of land as living relation and spiritual entity.
We recognize that reparations advances anywhere advance the whole, i.e. Global Africa, especially when done with the Global African Community in mind, and that African Heritage Communities in Europe provide crucial insights into waging reparations struggle within European contexts while developing innovative theoretical frameworks, praxis, advocacy approaches, and research methodologies that contribute to the global movement.
We acknowledge that while we primarily identify as affected communities rather than victims, the tactical recognition of our status as victims under international law is necessary for establishing our legal rights to effect, secure and enforce reparatory justice remedies, as established by the 2005 UN Basic Principles, Belfast Guidelines, and Swartbooi case precedent. These Basic Principles define victims as "persons who individually or collectively suffered harm" and establish that victims have the right to effect, secure and enforce reparatory justice remedies through participation in design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of reparations programs. When states negotiate on behalf of affected communities without meaningful consultation, they violate international law and deny our fundamental rights to remedy.
Within African Heritage Communities in Europe: We acknowledge diverse perspectives, experiences, and approaches within our communities - different generations, national origins, organizing strategies, and relationships to both African/Caribbean heritage and European contexts. We recognize the regional, country and communities of reparatory justice interest variations of experiences, strategies and tactics across different European nations, each with distinct colonial legacies, legal frameworks, and contemporary manifestations of afrophobia and racism. We also acknowledge the advocacy of these specific communities and their campaigning formations or movement-building endeavours, recognizing that different communities have developed distinct organizing models, campaign strategies, and movement structures based on their particular contexts and priorities. We commit to democratic processes that honor this diversity while building collective positions.
We acknowledge the wide linguistic and other diversity amongst us as African Heritage Communities who are not homogeneous. The concrete realities of colonization have impacted our sense of who we are and how we currently organize, creating different organizing traditions, languages, cultural practices, and strategic approaches across European contexts. Much as we embrace Pan-Africanism, this does not mean becoming a melting pot that erases our distinct identities, languages, and organizing traditions. We call for greater pan-African linking and networking that strengthens our collective capacity while respecting and celebrating our diversity. This networking should facilitate sharing of strategies, mutual learning, and coordinated action while maintaining the autonomy and distinctiveness of different African Heritage Communities across Europe.
Within CARICOM Reparations Commission:
We recognize that Commission representatives may hold various views on strategy, priorities, and approaches to reparations advocacy, reflecting different national contexts, professional backgrounds, and relationships to state structures. We seek to understand these different perspectives rather than assuming uniformity.
Preventing Division and Misrule: We commit to transparent dialogue that prevents external forces from exploiting differences within or between our communities. We maintain space for legitimate debate and diverse approaches while building unity of purpose.
AFRICAN HERITAGE COMMUNITIES IN EUROPE:
* Represent the pan-African nature of the African Diaspora with communities from across the continent and Caribbean living in European contexts, including many with citizenship in AU or CARICOM states who are simultaneously part of the region and part of the African diaspora.
* Form a distinct bloc that is not represented by CARICOM or AU states despite these connections, creating a unique position that should be seen as strength and asset for global reparations.
* Experience specific manifestations of the Maangamizi (ongoing African Holocaust) in European contexts including institutional racism, educational discrimination, police violence, economic marginalization, and cultural erasure, while also facing battles for recognition of their African identity as African diaspora communities, specifically those of African Caribbean ancestry.
* Contribute materially to CARICOM and AU countries through remittances, investment, and economic connections while advocating independently for reparations in European contexts.
* Bring dual perspectives as both region members through citizenship and diaspora communities through location and experience.
* Are a significant population of 20 million plus people strategically positioned on European frontlines where reparations must be won.
* Have built the grassroots foundation through decades of activism that created current momentum for reparations recognition.
* Possess irreplaceable knowledge about European contexts essential for successful reparations advocacy.
* Have developed innovative organizing models and concrete initiatives including campaigns for All-Party Parliamentary Commissions of Inquiry for Truth and Reparatory Justice at national and European Parliament levels.
* Are systematically excluded from both CARICOM and AU state programmes despite being directly affected by the same crimes these programmes address
* Have created alternative pathways for reparatory justice through European legislative and judicial mechanisms
* Seek increased collaboration with both the African Union and CARICOM as part of broader pan-African solidarity for reparatory justice
CARICOM REPARATIONS COMMISSION REPRESENTATIVES:
* Provide institutional expertise and advocacy capacity developed through the Commission's work on reparations frameworks, with some representatives employed by CARICOM states while others serve in independent capacities.
* Have established the CARICOM Ten-Point Plan framework and continue developing additional reparations strategies that elevated reparations to diplomatic discourse.
* Are ultimately accountable to CARICOM state structures, which African Heritage Communities in Europe must recognize as a key factor in any partnership arrangements.
* Work within the constraints of their mandate while advocating for state and international action on reparations.
* Have developed Commission initiatives with limited direct civil society engagement in both the Caribbean region and diaspora contexts.
* Need to advocate for participatory approaches with Caribbean civil society as well as diaspora communities to ensure authentic representation in their work.
* Cannot effectively advocate in European contexts without understanding and partnership with African Heritage Community experiences in Europe.
THE PRINCIPLE OF PEOPLES' POWER
"Nothing About Us Without Us" is not merely a slogan but a fundamental principle of human dignity and self-determination.
This principle demands that:
* No decisions affecting our communities can be made without our meaningful participation
* No programs claiming to benefit us can be designed without our ownership of the process.
* No representatives can speak for us without our explicit consent and ongoing accountability
* This principle extends to people in Africa and the Caribbean as well as Europe - authentic participation must include all affected communities, not just those with formal state representation.
The Belfast Guidelines establish that "affected communities coming together to mobilize around their right to an effective remedy" is essential for leveraging political will. Reparations are not gifts from benevolent institutions - they are won through organized peoples' power that can effect and secure reparations through community self-organization, documentation and truth-telling, strategic campaigns, international solidarity, and alternative institution building.
* Nothing About Us Without Us: No reparations decisions affecting our communities will be made without meaningful participation of those communities.
* Horizontal Partnership: We engage as equals with different roles, not hierarchical relationships where one directs the other.
* Complementary Strategies: Our different approaches strengthen rather than compete with each other when properly coordinated - CARICOM's diplomatic pressure, the AU's continental vision, and African Heritage Community grassroots organizing and parliamentary initiatives can reinforce each other if we coordinate effectively.
* Transparency and Accountability: Regular reporting on collaboration outcomes to both European and Caribbean communities - trust is the foundation of effective collective action.
* Authentic Participation: Reparations without the meaningful involvement of affected communities becomes charity rather than justice - and charity preserves rather than transforms power relationships.
* Recognition of Diverse Experiences: We acknowledge the breadth of work already happening - CARICOM's Ten-Point Plan provides comprehensive framework that has shifted global discourse, the AU's continental coordination offers vision and scale, and African Heritage Communities in Europe have developed innovative approaches from community healing circles to parliamentary advocacy. However, we emphasize the critical distinction between descriptive representation (mere presence of individuals who share heritage characteristics) and substantive African Heritage Community representation (authentic community voices with accountability mechanisms, community mandate, and representation of self-determined interests and perspectives). We seek substantive representation at all times, including in the context of CARICOM states, as we are an African people who reserve the right to express our Africanity even within Caribbean contexts.
* Safeguarding Against Misuse: We recognize that reparations programs can be conflated with development programs or misused by governments to avoid victims bringing further legal claims - effective collaboration must build safeguards against these risks. While states may embrace or adopt reparations measures that complement development, we must emphasize that from a civil society perspective, we have rights to development as African Heritage Communities whose identities transcend existing national borders of AU and CARICOM states. Our rights to reparations are inalienable and are not subordinated to the agendas or interests of states. We assert our right to express our Africanity even within Caribbean contexts, as we are an African people with the right to substantive African Heritage Community representation at all times. As articulated in the opening remarks that set the tone for this dialogue, we remain vigilant against state capture (where states co-opt reparations discourse for their own interests), movement capture (where movements are infiltrated or redirected away from their original purposes), and elite capture (where benefits intended for communities are appropriated by privileged individuals or groups).
* Connecting to Structural Change: Reparations should be connected to other programs aimed at redressing historical grievances and marginalizing structures - addressing ongoing racism, afrophobia, institutional reform, and corruption that captures reparations processes.
* Honor African Heritage Community autonomy by supporting independent organizing and respecting self-determined priorities
* Create formal participation mechanisms with decision-making power for African Heritage Communities in Europe
* Support Parliamentary Commission initiatives in European national parliaments and European Parliament
* Acknowledge African Heritage Community expertise about European contexts as essential for effective reparations advocacy
* Practice transparent engagement through regular reporting on how African Heritage Community input influences Commission strategies
* Facilitate connections with CARICOM states to support direct relationships between African civil society in Europe and Caribbean governments
* Promote complementary approaches by encouraging African Heritage Community initiatives alongside Commission programmes
* Build democratic accountability through authentic community representation and transparent decision-making processes
* Share knowledge and resources that strengthen global reparations advocacy and support Commission work
* Engage constructively with CARICOM initiatives that align with community priorities while maintaining autonomous advocacy
* Practice strategic coordination to create mutually reinforcing pressure on institutions in European contexts
* Seek enhanced AU collaboration as part of pan-African solidarity while respecting AU autonomy
* Maintain transparent communication with African Heritage Communities in Europe about all engagements and outcomes achieved
* Support CARICOM sovereignty by engaging respectfully with legitimate Caribbean institutional authority
CARICOM COMMITMENTS TO RESPECTFUL ENGAGEMENT:
* Honor African Heritage Community self-determination supporting autonomous organizing and respecting community-defined priorities
* Engage through consent-based processes that require explicit agreement from African Heritage Communities before any representation claims
* Support complementary strategies by encouraging African Heritage Community initiatives alongside CARICOM programmes
* Maintain transparent boundaries by clearly distinguishing between CARICOM institutional roles and African Heritage Community advocacy by spaces
* Practice inclusive engagement that recognizes African Heritage Community citizenship in CARICOM states while respecting their autonomous organizing in European contexts
* Support CARICOM sovereignty by engaging diplomatically and respecting legitimate institutional authority.
* Build authentic community accountability in Europe through democratic processes and transparent representation.
* Respect Caribbean autonomy by offering solidarity while honoring Caribbean civil society independence.
* Engage constructively by adapting approaches to Caribbean contexts when invited while maintaining European-focused organizing.
* Practice principled solidarity that supports CARICOM initiatives aligned with community priorities.
To CARICOM and African Union States:
* Engage CARICOM High Commissions and Embassies more actively with their diaspora groups and communities, as well as the wider African Heritage Communities in their respective European jurisdictions.
* Facilitate direct connections between African civil society in Europe and Caribbean/African governments through diplomatic channels.
* Recognize African Heritage Communities in Europe as valuable partners in advancing continental and regional reparations objectives.
* Support community-led initiatives through diplomatic endorsement and resource sharing.
To European Governments:
* Support All-Party Parliamentary Commissions of Inquiry as legitimate expressions of civil society and diplomatic pressure
* Implement comprehensive reparations programmes with authentic community participation
* Address ongoing systemic racism that continues historical harm
To International Institutions:
* Recognize both CARICOM diplomatic advocacy and African Heritage Community organizing as legitimate expressions of reparations demands.
* Support authentic participation frameworks for all affected communities.
* Hold all states accountable to international legal obligations
We agree that African Heritage Communities in Europe should see ourselves collectively as an economic bloc, given the substantial economic contributions we are already making to African and Caribbean nations through remittances, investment, trade, and business connections. We commit to promoting trade and service provisions among and between us not just as states but through civil society networks, community enterprises, and diaspora economic cooperation.
* Strengthen economic networks between African Heritage Communities across European countries
* Develop pan-African business and trade relationships that benefit community development
* Create cooperative economic structures that support community self-determination
* Leverage collective economic power to advance reparations objectives
* Build alternative economic institutions that serve community needs and values
* Support community-controlled economic development alongside reparations advocacy
* Facilitate trade and business connections between African Heritage Communities in different European countries
* Develop joint economic initiatives that strengthen community capacity and independence
* Create mechanisms for sharing economic resources, expertise, and opportunities across borders
* Support community enterprises that align with reparations and decolonization principles
* Build economic literacy and capacity within communities to maximize collective economic power.
This economic solidarity strengthens our reparations advocacy by demonstrating our agency, self-determination, and collective capacity to create alternatives while demanding systemic change.
We commit to establishing an annual convening of this "Building Power For Reparatory Justice" dialogue between African Heritage Communities in Europe and CARICOM Reparations Commission representatives.
This annual gathering will:
* Monitor progress on the commitments made in this declaration
* Assess the effectiveness of our collaboration and partnership approaches
* Address emerging challenges and opportunities in the global reparations landscape
* Facilitate deeper relationship-building between European African civil society and Caribbean institutional representatives
* Provide accountability mechanisms for both sides to report on actions taken and outcomes achieved
* Create space for expanding participation to include additional African civil society organizations across Europe
* Strengthen coordination with African Union initiatives and continental reparations organizing
* Share learning and successful strategies that can be adapted across different contexts
* Plan coordinated actions and campaigns for the coming year
* Ensure that the principles of "Nothing About Us Without Us" and authentic participation remain central to all reparations work.
The annual convening will rotate between different European countries with significant African diaspora populations, ensuring that diverse European contexts and experiences inform our ongoing collaboration. We recognize that sustainable partnership requires consistent engagement, regular communication, and structured opportunities for mutual learning and accountability.
RESTORING THE ABUJA 1993 CONSENSUS
We call for the unification of all reparation's forces, both state and non-state, recognizing that CARICOM cannot do it alone in the global struggle for reparatory justice. We seek greater linking with the African Union, thereby restoring the consensus that was established in Abuja 1993 - the pioneering moment that brought together Global Africa in the first comprehensive Pan African approach to reparations.
The 1993 Abuja Proclamation was groundbreaking because it united continental African states, Caribbean governments, and diaspora civil society organizations in a shared vision for reparatory justice. This historic consensus demonstrated that effective reparations require coordination between all sectors of the Global African family - states, civil society, and diaspora communities working together rather than in isolation.
We commit to rebuilding this unified approach where CARICOM's diplomatic capacity, the African Union's continental scope, and African civil society organizing across all territories strengthen each other through coordinated action. The challenges we face are too complex for any single actor or region to address alone - they require the full mobilization of Global Africa's collective power.
This unification must be based on principles of mutual respect, shared decision-making, and recognition that state and non-state actors each bring essential contributions to the reparations struggle. We reject approaches that subordinate civil society to state priorities or that create artificial divisions between continental, Caribbean, and diaspora organizing.
We pay tribute to all those ancestors, forerunners, luminaries, and freedom fighters who struggled for this cause and sometimes paid the price with their lives. As Amilcar Cabral taught us, "we, Africans, strongly believe that the dead remain living at our side - we are societies of the living and the dead."
We stand on the shoulders of those who came before - from the unnamed millions who resisted in the holds of slave ships, to the named heroes like: Queen Nzinga • Jean-Jacques Dessalines • The late Abolitionist Ottobah Cugoano • Alice Kinloch • Amy Ashwood Garvey • Marcus Mosiah Garvey • Amy Jacques Garvey • W.E.B. Dubois • Shirley Graham Dubois • Paul Robeson • Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah • Chief M.K.O. Abiola who organized and funded the Lagos 1990 and Abuja 1993 reparations conferences and chaired the Organization of African Unity's Group of Eminent Persons • Bernie Grant MP who established the African Reparations Movement UK • Ambassador Dudley Thompson • Dorothy Kuya • C.L.R. James • Queen Mother Audley Moore and Queen Mother Dorothy Benton Lewis who organized in and with people in Europe • Ida B. Wells-Barnett • Thomas Sankara • Professor Walter Rodney and countless others who built the foundations upon which we now stand.
Their struggles, sacrifices, and visions live through our work. We are not starting anew but continuing the liberation struggle they began, guided by their wisdom and strengthened by their spirits. We are accountable to both the ancestors who died fighting for our freedom and the generations yet to come who will inherit the world we create through our actions today.
We are here not just for ourselves, but for those who came before and those who will come after. We are here for our ancestors who died in the holds of ships during the Transatlantic Trafficking of Enslaved Africans, who survived the plantations, who built communities with their bare hands. We are here for our children who deserve to inherit a world where their humanity is never questioned, where their potential is never limited by the colour of their skin.
This is our sacred responsibility to transform centuries of pain into power, to turn historical trauma into healing justice, to ensure that the next generation will not have to fight the battles we're fighting today.
We commit to building the power to effect and secure reparations through organized peoples' power rather than depending on institutional goodwill.
This means:
* Building independent capacity that can compel reparations whether other institutions cooperate or resist
* Maintaining strategic flexibility to escalate, coordinate, or operate independently based on community priorities.
* Supporting each other's organizing while maintaining respective autonomy and accountability
* We are not asking for handouts - we are demanding justice.
As PARCOE states in their Statement of Purpose:
"Our struggle for Reparations is not asking anyone to give us anything or do anything charitable for us. Rather, it is a long overdue demand for what, by all the tenets of Justice, is rightfully ours. We are demanding complete economic, political, social, cultural and spiritual Justice, that is Justice in its true holistic meaning. Receiving the financial component of Reparations is most meaningful when it serves the holistic purpose and strengthens the integral whole of our self-repair process."
We are not content with symbolic gestures - we are organizing for systemic to structural change. When we speak about reparatory justice, we are talking about the fundamental transformation of systems that continue to dehumanize us and the remaking of the world itself.
As Professor Maulana Karenga states:
"Reparations is a process of the repairing and remaking of a people who are in the process and practice of repairing, renewing and remaking the world."
This remaking of the world is fundamentally about ensuring guarantees of non-repetition of the Maangamizi - one of the five principles of reparations under international law - alongside restitution of our stolen resources, as well as the necessary compensatory measures and the full range of reparatory measures that serve our collective restoration and holistic flourishing.
The time for tokenism has ended. The era of authentic partnership in effecting and securing reparatory justice begins now.
Adopted at the Building Power For Reparatory Justice Dialogue on September 3, 2025 in The Hague.
Organized and Coordinated by LPS (National Platform Dutch Slavery Past)-Associated member of the Caricom Reparations Commission and NARECO-NL (National Reparations Commission NL) in Cooperation with EPAF-PAD, CARICOM Reparations Commission, and Partner Organizations.
Endorsed by: Pan African civil society organizations across Europe and CARICOM Reparations Commission representatives
For information: [email protected]
EPAFPAD - Europe Pan-African Forum for People of African Descent.
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