President Mahama Pushes For New Phase Of Global Reparations Efforts

President John Dramani Mahama has called on the international community to move beyond recognising the injustices of the transatlantic slave trade and take concrete steps towards reparatory justice.

Speaking at the opening of the High-Level Consultative Conference on the Next Steps to the Landmark UN Resolution on the Trafficking of Enslaved Africans in Accra, President Mahama said the time had come for action, truth-telling and reconciliation.

He described the transatlantic slave trade as one of the gravest crimes against humanity, arguing that its effects continue to shape global inequalities, racial discrimination and economic disparities centuries after the practice ended.  

The three-day conference, hosted by Ghana from June 17 to 19, brings together heads of state, ministers, legal experts, academics, civil society organisations and members of the African diaspora to discuss practical pathways for reparatory justice following the adoption of a landmark United Nations resolution earlier this year.  

In March, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution A/RES/80/250, which formally recognised the transatlantic trafficking and enslavement of Africans as a grave crime against humanity.

The resolution, which was championed by Ghana on behalf of the African Union, received the support of 123 member states.  

Addressing delegates, President Mahama said that although the present generation did not commit the atrocities of slavery, it had a shared responsibility to confront the lasting consequences of that history.

He stressed that reparatory justice was not solely about financial compensation but also about recognition, accountability, remembrance, restitution and creating opportunities to address historical disadvantages.

As part of efforts to advance the reparations agenda,  Mahama announced the establishment of three international panels. They include an Advisory Panel on Reparatory Justice, an Expert Panel on the Restitution of Cultural Artefacts, and a Legal Panel on Reparatory Justice.

The bodies are expected to provide guidance on policy, legal frameworks and international cooperation.  

The Accra conference has attracted a high-profile gathering of leaders, including the presidents of Senegal, Namibia, Liberia and São Tomé and Príncipe, the Prime Minister of Barbados, the Vice-President of Equatorial Guinea, and representatives from more than 80 countries. Former President John Agyekum Kufuor is also participating.  

The meeting is the first major international gathering on reparatory justice since the UN resolution was adopted and is expected to produce a framework to guide future global engagement on the issue.

Organisers say the conference aims to transform political momentum into practical commitments and institutional action.  

“Future generations will judge us not by the resolutions we adopted, but by the progress we achieved,” President Mahama told delegates.

Ghana has emerged as one of the leading advocates of reparatory justice in recent years, with President Mahama serving as the African Union Champion on Reparations.

The government says the conference is intended to deepen international dialogue and strengthen cooperation on addressing the legacy of slavery and its continuing impact on people of African descent around the world.