Ouagadougou: Representatives from seven African countries participated Thursday in an international online conference aimed at transforming the demand for colonial reparations into a real legal obligation for former colonial powers, under the aegis of the Pan-African Movement for Reparations, Justice and the Restoration of Historical Memory.
According to Burkina Information Agency, delegates from Niger, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Togo, Central African Republic, Chad, and Burkina Faso recalled that the effects of colonialism remain visible, despite independence: unfair contracts, heavy debts, uprooting of communities, and financial losses estimated in billions of dollars each year.
The conference welcomed the entry into the movement of the Burkinabe organization "Planet of Young Pan-Africanists," led by Nestor Podasse, which reaffirmed the importance of restoring historical truth and wounded African identities.
At the conclusion of the proceedings, participants unanimously adopted an ambitious resolution aimed at establishing the first legal precedents for colonial reparations. Among the proposed measures are filing complaints in the national courts of the former colonial powers, invoking universal jurisdiction, taking action against companies that are the successors of colonial corporations, and pursuing interstate remedies.
A major initiative also concerns the creation of a reparations unit within the African Court of Human and Peoples' Rights, which would operate according to African principles of recognition and restoration, and not according to a strictly punitive model. The activists also called for the establishment, in each country, of expert groups tasked with assessing colonial damages, using the recognized methodologies of CARICOM, Afreximbank, and UNECA. They also wish to encourage cross-assessments between African countries, a symbol of strengthened continental solidarity.
The Pan-African Movement for Reparations plans to organize a regional forum on historical justice in 2026 and will seek, with the participants, the establishment of a Fund for Historical Justice in Africa and the Caribbean, in collaboration with the African Union and CARICOM.
Describing colonialism as a "continuing crime," the resolution estimates its impacts at several trillion dollars and reaffirms the right of peoples to reparations in all their forms: material, institutional, environmental, and collective.
'Truth does not die, it awaits its witness,' said Nestor Podasse, asserting that African people now want to obtain justice 'in the name of law.'
The resolution will be sent to the African Union, CARICOM, the UN Human Rights Council, and the parliaments of the countries concerned.