King Charles III of England made a statement saying that it was time to accept the consequences of slavery. Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley expressed her satisfaction with the king's statements in her speech in London on the necessity of slavery reparations.
Mia Mottley said that the Caribbean nation of Barbados owes 4.9 trillion dollars to slave-owning countries. In her speech, Prime Minister Mottley said that the steps to be taken on how to repay this debt "will be difficult and will take time".
"WE DEMAND TO BE SEEN AND HEARD
"We know that these debts cannot be repaid in one or two or even five years. Because the damage done and the exploitation has taken centuries. We demand to be seen and heard.
During a speech at the London School of Economics' International Inequalities Institute, the Prime Minister praised King Charles' willingness to stand up to slavery.
Charles III told the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting that slavery had deepened his personal sorrow for human suffering and deepened his understanding of the lasting impact of slavery.
"IT'S TIME TO TALK ABOUT SLAVERY
"To build a shared future that benefits all our citizens, we too must find new ways of acknowledging our past. This is a conversation whose time has come," he said, but made no mention of financial reparations.
Since becoming prime minister in 2018, Mottley has become a strong voice around the world on the legacy of colonialism. His political stance on the issue has helped turn calls for reparations into a mainstream political issue.
UK OWES 24 TRILLION
According to a Brattle Group report calculating the wealth of countries that enslaved Africans, Britain owes $24 trillion in reparations to 14 countries affected by transatlantic slavery, Spain $17.1 trillion, France $9.2 trillion and the Netherlands $4.86 trillion.
Prime Minister Mottley said that addressing the historic debt of slavery would allow the world community to "move forward, strengthened rather than lost in the shadow of a shameful history."
Mottley also emphasized the need to fulfill commitments and questioned the adequacy of the £100 million fund set aside by the Church of England for slave trade links earlier this year.
Rishi Sunak also rejected suggestions that the UK should pay reparations for its role in slavery. He emphasized that trying to eradicate Britain's history is a waste of energy and not a way forward.
