History slavery Jamaica
📅 22 January 2009
📍 Jamaica
On 22 January 2009, Jamaica’s Cabinet approved the establishment of a National Commission on Reparations. Its remit was to consider proposals seeking reparations from countries involved in the slave trade and to make recommendations concerning descendants of enslaved people, in Jamaica and the diaspora. The initiative made reparatory justice a formal subject of national policy and public consultation. It followed a long history of Black Caribbean claims and reframed the question from charity toward responsibility for harms whose effects persisted after emancipation.
On 14 December 1944, Jamaica held its first general election under universal adult suffrage. The vote brought a much broader electorate into political life and elected the first House of...
On 19 September 1961, Jamaicans voted in a referendum on whether to remain in the West Indies Federation. A majority voted against remaining, and the result set Jamaica on a separate path toward...
On 6 August 1962, Jamaica became an independent state, ending formal British responsibility for governing the country. The locally drafted constitution came into effect, and the Jamaican flag was...
On 20 October 1969, Jamaica first celebrated National Heroes Day, formally honoring figures whose work included resistance to slavery, anti-colonial struggle, labor organizing, and nation building....
On 1 August 1997, Jamaica reinstated Emancipation Day as a national public holiday, after the observance had been discontinued when independence celebrations replaced it in 1962. Restoring the date...
👉 Cabinet approves a National Commission on Reparations
Current
22 January 2009
On 22 January 2009, Jamaica’s Cabinet approved the establishment of a National Commission on Reparations. Its remit was to consider proposals seeking reparations from countries involved in the slave...
On 17 September 2013, the first CARICOM Regional Conference on Reparations concluded by constituting the CARICOM Reparations Commission. The conference followed a unanimous decision by Caribbean heads...
On 18 March 2014, CARICOM announced that its Heads of Government had accepted the Caribbean Reparatory Justice Programme as a basis for discussions on reparations for slavery and Indigenous...
On 7 September 2026, the Government of Jamaica filed a petition asking King Charles, as Jamaica’s head of state, to refer legal questions about chattel slavery in Jamaica to the Judicial Committee...
