Global Summit on Reparations and Racial Healing sets new standard for reparations advocacy
Organisers of the recently held Global Summit on Reparations and Racial Healing have come out with “The Accra Declaration” after a yearlong series of meetings.
This declaration pushes forward a global agenda for reparations and healing and lays the framework for the organizing, engagement, and advocacy strategy moving forward.
A communique dated August 10, 2022 stated that this declaration builds on the Abuja Proclamation of 1993 and the Durban Declaration and Program of Action of 2001.
The communique said, the year-long series of meetings focused on Reparations and Racial Healing facilitated by a cohort of organizations working as a collective, culminated in an international convening attended by heads of state, diplomats, scholars, activists, artists, and civil society to affirm a bold agenda for the Global Reparations Movement.
“Scholars, activists, academics, and artists from around the world held a number of plenary sessions exploring the role of global systems and structures in perpetuating harm, fundamental components for racial healing and exploring the current landscape of reparations and healing advocacy,” it revealed.
The communique further noted that overall, the discussions resulted in three major gatherings:
1. A convening in Italy at which experts from around the world deepened their understanding of the role of the Global North in the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and its legacies of colonialism, neocolonialism, racism, apartheid, genocide, and plunder
2. A meeting with the Roman Catholic Church on the issue of accountability for its role in initiating and facilitating the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade
3. A global summit bringing reparations and racial healing practitioners together to learn about the current reparations and racial healing landscape, increase the knowledge base to include information about practical steps currently being implemented internationally to advance reparations and healing, and lay the groundwork for relationships upon which to develop collective action.
“On all three goals, the Global Circle met and even exceeded critical objectives. The cohort held a convening with participants from around the world in Bellagio, Italy at the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center upon the invitation of Howard University Knight Journalism Professor and Creator of the 1619 Project, Nikole Hannah-Jones,” the communique noted.
According to the communique, 15 Commitments to which attendees agreed, will serve as the basis for global collective strategy development.
The organisers praised the efforts of President Akufo-Addo, who in his keynote address, declared Reparations and Racial Healing as unequivocally global imperatives.
They also commended the representative of the African Union for seizing the opportunity availed by the Summit to recommit the continental organization to the agenda of justice, racial healing and accountability across the board.
Source: Ghana News
