Jamaica Owed US$9.5 Trillion in Reparations from Chattel Slavery
The Reparations for Transatlantic Chattel Slavery in the Americas report launched at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, on Thursday has proposed that individuals responsible owe a debt of US$108 trillion, of which US$9.5 is owed to Jamaica by Britain.
The report was sponsored by the American Society of International Law and produced by a team led by Jamaican International Court of Justice (ICJ) member Judge Patrick Robinson. According to the report’s findings, Britain is indebted to the offspring of the enslaved in 31 countries across the Caribbean, North America, and Central America for a total of US$24 trillion. The report further states that Jamaica is owed approximately $1 trillion from Spain of its US$17 trillion reparation debt.
France owes a total of US$9 trillion in reparations, while Portugal owes US$20 trillion, including a payment of US$4 trillion owed to Brazil. Additionally, the Netherlands owes approximately US$5 trillion to its regional colonies, which include Suriname.
The National Council on Reparation (NCR) has calculated that Jamaica is entitled to a minimum of £2.3 trillion from any reparations paid, which is 30.64% of the £7.5 trillion owed by Britain to the Caribbean, and this sum would completely clear Jamaica’s national debt of US$2 trillion. However, Judge Patrick Robinson expressed that he is against monetary compensation given to individuals as a form of reparations.
In its stead, Robinson has pushed for any such funds to be used for developmental purposes such as education, health, housing, and technology. But it has been suggested that such developments would be hindered by British regulations that prohibit the transfer of funds to the government if Jamaica became a republic.
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