Guyana’s senior diplomats used this year’s Emancipation Day observance in New York to speak passionately about justice, dignity, freedom and reparations for the descendants of enslaved Africans, but their remarks made no mention of the growing domestic calls for accountability over the MV Barima tragedy, a disaster that has exposed deep divisions over justice, transparency and governance.

Speaking Thursday at the Emancipation Day observance at Medgar Evers College, Guyana’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, described slavery as the “greatest crime against humanity” and said reparations are about justice—not charity.

She noted that Guyana continues to advocate alongside its Caribbean partners for reparatory justice and highlighted the country’s support for the landmark United Nations resolution recognising the transatlantic slave trade and the enslavement of Africans as the gravest crime against humanity.