The United Nations has recommended that Britain erect more statues honoring people of African descent as a means of atoning for the slave trade. This suggestion comes from legal experts who assert that former slave-trading nations have an obligation to repair the harm caused by the slave trade. The recommendations are part of new guidance published by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), which was released six months after UN member states supported demands for reparations.
CERD is composed of 18 independent human rights experts elected to serve four-year terms. The proposals include the creation of artworks and statues in public spaces that recognize the contributions of people of African descent. The guidance states, 'Public spaces should honour the contributions of people of African descent and clearly acknowledge the wrongs of those who supported or benefited from historical atrocities.' It also emphasizes that satisfaction for people of African descent can include rights to investigation, public judgments, acknowledgments, apologies, acceptance of responsibility, and public commemorations.
The guidance references the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, during which demonstrators targeted monuments associated with slavery and colonialism. Notably, in Bristol, protesters removed a statue of 17th-century slave trader Edward Colston and disposed of it in the harbor. The statue, which had stood since 1895, was toppled following the death of George Floyd in the United States.
Colston's wealth, derived from slave trading and the tobacco trade, contributed to the development of Bristol in the 17th century, and he used his fortune to fund schools and almshouses in the city. The guidance, largely developed by CERD panellists Gay McDougall and Pela Boker-Wilson, asserts that compensation should not be limited to financial reparations but should also aim to effect societal change.
On the topics of hate speech and xenophobia, the guidance states that Britain and other countries must take proactive measures to prevent prejudice and address misinformation regarding transatlantic chattel slavery and its ongoing impacts on people of African descent. It also calls for schools and curriculums to provide unbiased accounts of slavery and its consequences.
The report arrives ahead of the King’s planned autumn tour of the Caribbean, where the Royal Family's historical connections to the slave trade may be examined. Researchers are investigating the extent of the British Royal Family's involvement with the transatlantic slave trade through the Royal African Company.
In March, Britain and other former colonial powers faced renewed demands from African and Caribbean states for reparations amounting to trillions of pounds. Ghana's president, John Dramani Mahama, criticized the lack of response from European nations that benefited from the abduction and forced labor of over 12 million Africans over four centuries. He presented a resolution at the United Nations, supported by the African Union and Caribbean states, calling for formal recognition of the transatlantic slave trade as a 'grave crime against humanity.' Mahama received applause for stating, 'Just because everyone is doing something doesn't make it right. Slavery is wrong now, it was wrong then.' In 2023, a UN judge indicated that the UK could owe more than £18 trillion in reparations.