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?