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African leaders convened in Algiers on Sunday for the Conference on the Crimes of Colonialism in Africa. This conference is another step in the African Union’s (AU) plan of action to advance justice and reparations for Africans in 2025.
Algerian Minister of State, Minister of Foreign Affairs, National Community Abroad, and African Affairs, Ahmed Ataff opened the conference with a call for leaders to resiliently follow in the footsteps of their ancestors. He outlined the key focus areas of the conference as demanding “legal and unequivocal criminalization of colonialism,” fair compensation, and the return of stolen property. He defined these reparations as “a legitimate right enshrined in international law and universally recognized norms.” Ataff concluded his address by setting the tone for the path forward from this conference:
This conference follows AU Resolution XXXVIII, which affirmed the importance of these conversations and welcomed the offer of Algeria’s president to host the conference. The AU defines “reparatory justice” in numerous ways. For the AU, it includes a range of initiatives which seek to address the injustices of colonization, slavery, and systemic discrimination, such as financial reparations, land restitution, international accountability, and community empowerment. Attaf stressed that Algeria “fully identifies” with these core objectives, again noting African countries’ rights to make these demands.
This conference is set against a backdrop of ongoing recognition of the colonial history of Africa on the international stage. The UN has previously recognized a tendency for European states to apologize and address the harms, but that no states have comprehensively accounted for the past and ongoing impacts. This issue has been similarly recognized by Human Rights Watch.
France has officially acknowledged some colonial atrocities, including a 1944 massacre in Senegal in 2024. France’s President Emmannuel Macron has chosen not to explicitly apologize for his country’s role in colonization: “The dialogue must continue. This is what interests me more … The worst would be, everybody apologizes and each goes their way.”
The conference continues Monday with a report on the key points of the African leaders’ discussions expected to follow.
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Algerian Minister of State, Minister of Foreign Affairs, National Community Abroad, and African Affairs, Ahmed Ataff opened the conference with a call for leaders to resiliently follow in the footsteps of their ancestors. He outlined the key focus areas of the conference as demanding “legal and unequivocal criminalization of colonialism,” fair compensation, and the return of stolen property. He defined these reparations as “a legitimate right enshrined in international law and universally recognized norms.” Ataff concluded his address by setting the tone for the path forward from this conference:
Attaf highlighted the remnants of genocides in the Congo, Cameroon, and Namibia and the lasting colonial impacts in other African countries, including Algeria’s history under French occupation. He recounted massacres beginning in 1830, up to the War of Independence between 1954 and 1962.
This conference follows AU Resolution XXXVIII, which affirmed the importance of these conversations and welcomed the offer of Algeria’s president to host the conference. The AU defines “reparatory justice” in numerous ways. For the AU, it includes a range of initiatives which seek to address the injustices of colonization, slavery, and systemic discrimination, such as financial reparations, land restitution, international accountability, and community empowerment. Attaf stressed that Algeria “fully identifies” with these core objectives, again noting African countries’ rights to make these demands.
This conference is set against a backdrop of ongoing recognition of the colonial history of Africa on the international stage. The UN has previously recognized a tendency for European states to apologize and address the harms, but that no states have comprehensively accounted for the past and ongoing impacts. This issue has been similarly recognized by Human Rights Watch.
France has officially acknowledged some colonial atrocities, including a 1944 massacre in Senegal in 2024. France’s President Emmannuel Macron has chosen not to explicitly apologize for his country’s role in colonization: “The dialogue must continue. This is what interests me more … The worst would be, everybody apologizes and each goes their way.”
The conference continues Monday with a report on the key points of the African leaders’ discussions expected to follow.
The post African leaders convene to recognize and seek reparations for colonial-era crimes appeared first on JURIST - News.
Continue reading...
Note: We don't have any responsibilities about this news. Its been posted here by Feed Reader and we had no controls and checking on it. And because News posted here will be deleted automatically after 21 days, threads are closed so that no one spend time to post and discuss here. You can always check the source and discuss in their site.