Abuja Proclamation calls for international reparatory justice

The UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration, including a prohibition on slavery and the slave trade. It gave a universal language to abolition and human dignity, but did not determine...

States adopted a treaty to intensify efforts to abolish slavery, the slave trade and slavery-like practices. Its focus was suppression and prevention in the present and future. It did not explicitly...

The General Assembly adopted ICERD amid decolonization and the global struggle against apartheid. The convention strengthened legal duties against racial discrimination. It supplied an important...

The UN adopted a convention providing that statutory time limits do not apply to war crimes and crimes against humanity as defined in the postwar framework. It became relevant to later reparations...

Representative John Conyers introduced H.R. 40 in the 101st Congress. The proposal sought a commission to examine slavery, discrimination and possible reparations for African Americans. It placed...

MP Bernie Grant introduced an Early Day Motion welcoming the Abuja conference and urging recognition of the international community’s moral debt. Parliamentary advocacy translated a Pan-African...

The General Assembly decided to convene the World Conference against Racism, creating a global intergovernmental forum where African, Caribbean and diaspora advocates could press historical...

The Rome Statute lists enslavement among crimes against humanity when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population, with knowledge of the attack. Its...

Civil-society organizations met before the World Conference against Racism. The NGO forum advanced a more direct account of transatlantic slavery, colonialism and reparations than many governments...

The UN World Conference against Racism opened in Durban, South Africa. African states, Caribbean states, diaspora movements and NGOs brought slavery and colonialism into a major multilateral debate on...