Commonwealth summit in Samoa: Why won’t the UK discuss slavery?
Al Jazeera
Commonwealth nations have pressured the UK to discuss reparations, but PM Starmer is not eager.
Commonwealth leaders have gathered in Samoa for the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) this week.
This is the first time the summit has taken place on a Pacific Small Island Developing State (PSIDS).
At the summit, a demand that the United Kingdom pay reparations for its role in the transatlantic slave trade has resurfaced. While the subject is not on the official agenda, Commonwealth leaders said they would hold their own discussions – with or without the approval of the British government.
A proposed section for the summit’s final communique, making reference to reparations, had been vetoed by the UK. Instead, the communique, which was released on Saturday, included only a reference to possible future discussions about “reparatory justice with regard to the trans-Atlantic trade in enslaved Africans”.
So what is the summit, and could this pressure the UK to pay reparations?
