BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Advocate - Victims of crimes against humanity and their descendants have a legal right to call for reparatory justice. As such, the CARICOM Reparatory Justice Committee has come up with a ten-point plan of action, which outlines the path to reconciliation and justice for such persons.

According to Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, Pro-Vice Chancellor and Principal of the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus, who serves as Chairman of the CARICOM Reparations Commission (CRC), the CRC sees the persistent racial victimisation of the descendants of slavery and genocide as the root cause of their suffering today. What’s more, he suggested, the CRC recognises that the persistent harm and suffering experienced today by these victims as the primary cause of development failure in the Caribbean.

During a press conference convened in the new administration building of the Cave Hill Campus yesterday, Professor Beckles noted that the Heads of Government of the region met in St. Vincent and the Grenadines on March 10, this year, to discuss amongst other things the first report of the CARICOM Reparations Commission. As part of its recommendations, the report contains a procedural path to be taken for reparatory justice, in the form of a document entitled “Caribbean Reparatory Justice Programme: A Ten-Point Plan of Action”.