Jamaica files landmark reparation petition

Jamaica has filed a historic reparations petition to King Charles III, through the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, in London, England.

The petition, filed on Monday, asks the King, in his capacity as Jamaica’s Head of State, to refer three questions about the legality of chattel slavery and the Trans-Atlantic slave trade to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, Jamaica’s highest court.

The questions are: Whether the seizure, transport and enslavement as chattel of Africans was ever lawful under English law? Was it a breach of international law to seize, transport and enslave Africans in Jamaica? And whether the UK has a legal obligation to provide a reparatory remedy to the people of Jamaica?

Addressing a media briefing following the filing, Culture Minister Olivia Grange, welcomed wide discussion on the landmark filing, while underscoring that the petition makes no monetary claims.

“There has been a lot of reaction to our petition, and I welcome thoughtful, honest debate on the matter of reparations… but so far, we have seen and heard so much of what isn’t so. This petition of the Government of Jamaica to His Majesty the King does not include a monetary claim,” she stated.

England-based barrister, Edward Fitzgerald, part of the team of Jamaican and UK lawyers that prepared the petition, noted that Section 4 of the Judicial Committee Act gives the King special authority to refer legal or constitutional questions to the Privy Council for determination.

He noted that matters that cannot be settled through the normal court process may be referred under that section, adding that there’s a strong argument that chattel slavery was unlawful even at the time it was practised.

“If you think of it, it’d be a pretty strange thing if a citizen could just go to Africa, see someone, against their will push them into a boat, and take them on a tortuous journey, and that was lawful under English common law,” Fitzgerald said.

The petition also argues that chattel enslavement was, and is, a crime against humanity.

“There was no statute to authorise it. In fact, there was a statute which said it was unlawful to seize people from Africa, and the National Council for Reparations highlighted that George II statute. So, to those who say… it was lawful at the time, we asked the Privy Council to find that it was never lawful,” he added.