History slavery Jamaica
📅 7 September 2026
📍 Jamaica
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 of the Privy Council. The questions concern whether slavery was lawful under English law, whether it constituted a crime against humanity, and whether Britain has obligations to provide a reparatory remedy. The government stated that the petition was not a monetary claim. The move used a colonial constitutional mechanism to seek legal scrutiny of colonial slavery, while keeping the question of redress before Jamaican and Caribbean publics.
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...
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...
👉 Jamaica files a petition seeking legal examination of chattel slavery
Current
7 September 2026
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...
