A Labour MP has shared a demand for Britain to hand over billions of pounds in “colonialism reparations”.
Backbencher Bell Ribeiro-Addy voiced support for the African Union’s push to secure the handouts from Western countries including the UK.
On social media, she drew attention to a deal to bring forward a UN resolution next month that would classify the transatlantic slave trade as a crime against humanity.
The MP has previously called on the Government to “engage” in reparations discussions, arguing that steps must be taken to address the “enduring legacies of slavery and colonialism”.
Ministers have firmly rejected any suggestion that Britain would pay – though David Lammy was among those who called for reparations in Opposition.
The African Union, representing all 55 African nations, has demanded “meaningful reparations” from European powers.
It agreed at its summit that the resolution will be put before the United Nations on March 25.
Ghana has been given responsibility for leading the initiative.
Bell Ribeiro-Addy voiced support for the African Union’s push to secure the handouts from Western countries including the UK
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GETTY
The resolution will seek formal acknowledgement that the transatlantic slave trade constituted a “grave crime against humanity”.
Caribbean nations have joined forces with African countries in pursuing the cash, with some estimates placing the amount owed in the trillions of dollars.
In a message shared by Ms Ribeiro-Addy on social media, Ghana’s Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said the resolution will “demand reparations including the return of looted objects“.
He told the summit: “By standing together at the United Nations, we signal to the world that Africa will no longer allow the scale of its historical suffering to be minimised.
“We seek not only recognition, but a global legal framework that paves the way for healing, accountability, restitution and restorative justice.”
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Ms Ribeiro-Addy shared an address by Ghana’s Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa demanding cash from the West
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Britain, which controlled a quarter of Africa at the height of its empire, could face renewed claims over the slave trade and colonialism.
Other European colonial powers may also face mounting pressure, including France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium and Germany, all of which had carved up Africa by the close of the 19th century.
Advocates argue that countries in the “Global North” are also responsible for environmental damage.
Britain outlawed the slave trade in the early 18th century and played a significant role in ending the practice around the world.
Bell Ribeiro-Addy, Diane Abbott and other hard-left backbenchers have voiced their demands for reparations in the past
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PA
In the past, Ms Ribeiro-Addy, who is also a member of the hard-left Socialist Campaign Group, has put pressure on Sir Keir Starmer to take “state-led action” over reparations.
While Commonwealth countries demanded a slavery retribution bill to the tune of around £18trillion, the MP joined hardliners Diane Abbott and Clive Lewis in calling for action.
Speaking at a reparations conference in London, Ms Ribeiro-Addy argued it was “very insulting [to] tell people of African descent to forget and move forward”.
“Reparations are not about relitigating historic injustices, they are about remedying the deep-rooted inequalities that still shape our world today,” she added.
