Europeans to Pay Reparations to African Descendants in the Caribbean Countries

14 Caribbean countries voted to simultaneously sue Britain,France, and Netherlands, over sufferings that they endured during the colonial period. The victims think that by suing these European countries at the same time, they might end up getting more compensation compared to other countries such as Kenya, whose freedom fighters were recently compensated by the British government. However, these countries hired Leigh Day, the British law firm that represented the Mau Mau veterans from Kenya, to represent them. Lawyers from this firm argue that there are possibilities for an out-of-court-agreement, but the fact that the Caribbean countries hired them indicates that these countries are “serious.”

Speaking at the U.N.’s General Assembly on October 1^st 2013, Saint Vincent and Grenadines’ Prime Minister, Ralph Gonsalves, insisted that these “Europeannations must pay for their deeds.” However, an article posted on a Catholicwebsite argues that it is unjust for the Caribbean countries to ask for reparations since “the guilty, as well as the victims, are long dead.” The article also argues that if “the great grandchildren of slavers [must] pay the great grandchildren of slaves,” then African nations should also be sued because “the first perpetrators of slavery were African themselves.”

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