AFRICAN and Caribbean leaders in Ghana have urged former slave-trading nations to issue apologies and reparations over the trafficking of enslaved Africans after a landmark UN resolution in March declaring it “the gravest crime against humanity.”

The Next Steps conference in the Ghanaian capital of Accra issued a declaration at the weekend calling on countries involved in the Atlantic slave trade to “offer full, formal and unconditional apologies as a foundational step towards reconciliation, trust-building and reparatory justice.”

The UN resolution is non-binding but carries moral authority. Organisers said the Ghana conference was aimed at moving the reparations debate from recognition to concrete measures, including moves to require compensation under international law.

About 12 million people were forcefully taken by slavers from European nations between the 16th and 19th centuries, and enslaved on plantations that built European and North American power and wealth at the price of untold human misery.

Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama said the UN resolution had created a new opportunity for meaningful engagement on reparations. He said the effects of slavery continue to be felt across Africa, the Caribbean, and the wider African diaspora.

“We’re here because recognition creates responsibility, and because the enduring consequences of this history continue to demand thoughtful, co-ordinated, and sustained international engagement,” Mr Mahama told delegates from more than 80 countries.

At a reparations summit in Ghana in 2023, participants proposed establishing a Global Reparation Fund, though they did not clarify how it would operate.