Jamaica will ask King Charles to request legal advice from the London-based Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the final court of appeal for UK overseas territories and some Commonwealth nations, on the issue of slavery reparations.
Under the Judicial Committee Act of 1833, Charles, who remains Jamaica’s head of state after the country gained independence from Britain in 1962, has the authority to refer matters to the council for consideration.
Hundreds of thousands of enslaved Africans were shipped to Jamaica, and many scholars and advocates say the legacy of that period has resulted in or played a role in today’s inequities.
Calls for reparations are longstanding and moves such as the appeal to Charles help to keep the topic in the public spotlight. A backlash against it has also been growing, and many of Europe’s leaders have opposed even talking about it.
Jamaica’s culture minister, Olivia Grange, said her government was seeking the council to consider whether the forced transport of enslaved Africans to Jamaica and their subsequent enslavement was lawful, and if it constituted a crime against humanity.
