Minister Grange leads Jamaica reparations delegation to UK
Key Points(5)
- Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport Minister Olivia Grange is leading a Jamaican delegation to the United Kingdom as the country steps up its push for reparations for the enslavement of Africans during the colonial era.
- The Privy Council remains Jamaica's highest court.
- According to the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the petition does not seek payment but represents a new legal approach to Jamaica's longstanding reparations campaign.
- “This novel legal approach is being taken after years of deliberations and is intended to ensure the long outstanding settlement for the hundreds of years of the most horrific abuse that our African ancestors endured - the gravest crime against humanity,” Grange said.
- While in the UK, Grange is also participating in an ecumenical church service focused on remembrance, justice and repair at New Park Road Baptist Church in South London on Sunday, September 6.
Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport Minister Olivia Grange is leading a Jamaican delegation to the United Kingdom as the country steps up its push for reparations for the enslavement of Africans during the colonial era.
The delegation is expected to file a petition with King Charles III on Monday, September 7, asking him, in his capacity as Jamaica's head of state, to refer three questions concerning the transatlantic chattel enslavement of Africans in Jamaica to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the country's highest court.
“We go fearless into another chapter in our story when we petition His Majesty King Charles on the matter of reparations,” Grange said Sunday during an ecumenical Service of Remembrance, Justice and Repair at New Park Road Baptist Church in London.
According to the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the petition does not seek payment directly but represents a new legal approach to Jamaica's longstanding reparations campaign.
Grange said the petition asks the Privy Council to consider whether the seizure, transportation and enslavement of Africans as chattel was ever lawful under English law; whether the seizure, transportation and enslavement of Africans in Jamaica breached international law; and whether the United Kingdom has a legal obligation to provide a reparatory remedy to the people of Jamaica.
“We do not come begging. We come, once more, as in the case of the Zong massacre, looking to the English court for a just decision,” Grange said.
Emphasizing that the move is a legal rather than political procedure, Grange said the Jamaican government anticipates that the King will accept the petition and refer the questions to the Privy Council.
“This novel legal approach is being taken after years of deliberations and is intended to ensure the long outstanding settlement for the hundreds of years of the most horrific abuse that our African ancestors endured - the gravest crime against humanity,” she said.
Grange's remarks came during Sunday's church service commemorating the 245th anniversary of the Zong massacre.
In 1781, the slave ship Zong was sailing from the West African coast toward Jamaica when members of its crew threw scores of enslaved Africans overboard. The killings were carried out as part of an attempt to claim insurance for the loss of the enslaved people, who were treated as property.
“They threw approximately 140 Africans to their deaths, children, women and men… It was mass murder without a second thought,” Grange said, describing the massacre as a powerful illustration of the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade.
Grange said the Zong case was also notable for the actions of the ship's owners, the Gregson syndicate of Liverpool, who sought compensation from their insurers despite knowing that the crew had deliberately killed more than one-third of the Africans aboard.
The insurers refused the claim, prompting the ship's owners to take the matter to the English courts.
Grange said Jamaica's petition is intended to honor the African ancestors who suffered through centuries of enslavement on the island, including the victims of the Zong massacre and those who survived the voyage to Jamaica.
She said she was also drawing inspiration from those who fought against slavery and colonial oppression, including National Heroes Sam Sharpe and Nanny of the Maroons, as well as Tacky, Kojo, Accompong and Fyah.
“We are ready for those who will deny and oppose. To them I say, as we’ve been taught, let justice ring,” Grange said.
During the UK visit, Grange is also expected to meet with officials from the British Museum to continue discussions about the repatriation of Jamaican artifacts taken to Britain during the colonial era.
“They are priceless, they are significant to the story of Jamaica, they belong to the people of Jamaica and we are working to bring them home,” she said.
The Jamaican delegation includes representatives from the Office of the Attorney General and the National Council on Reparations, as well as officials from the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport.
