Seeking reparations for the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

Twelve Caribbean nations are seeking reparations for slavery from Britain, France and the Netherlands. They say their poverty and lack of development is the legacy of slavery. We hear from their lawyer whose track record for seeking recognition is impressive.

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If the trans-Atlantic slave trade is one of humanity's most appalling crimes; its abolition is a soaring accomplishment. Some believe however an even higher achievement is long overdue -- reparation.

Last week, a Regional Reparations Conference brought together Caribbean leaders to discuss seeking reparations from the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

The Caribbean Reparations Commission has its eyes on Britain, France and the Netherlands. St. Vincent Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves leads the effort and calls it a "fundamental, defining matter of our age."

For many members of the wider Caribbean community, this is welcome news.

• Isaac Saney is a faculty member at Dalhousie & St. Mary's universities, who specializes in the African Diaspora. He feels the reparations push is long overdue and very important because both historical and financial attention must be paid to the long-lasting effects of slavery in the Caribbean. He was in Halifax.

• Martyn Day was at the Regional Reparations Conference in St. Vincent. He's a human rights lawyer who helped win compensation for thousands of Kenyans tortured by the colonial government during the Mau Mau uprising of the 1950s and 1960s. Martyn Day was in our London studio.

• Martin Plaut thinks the push for reparations doesn't go far enough. He's a Senior research fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies and his view is summed up in the title of the article he wrote for The New Statesman: Should Arab countries pay reparations for the slave trade too? Marin Plaut was also in our London studio.

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This segment was produced by The Current's Pacinthe Mattar.

* This segment started with 400 years by by Bunny Wailer