Antigua and Barbuda’s Prime Minister Gaston Browne told the U.N. General Assembly on Friday that reparations for slavery and colonial exploitation must be seen as justice, not benevolence, urging wealthy nations to acknowledge their role in centuries of exploitation.
“Reparatory justice is not charity,” Browne said. “It is principled restitution for wealth extracted, for unpaid labor, barbaric killings, and physical abuse endured by our forebears”.
He argued that small states are not asking for handouts but for fairness. “Small states are not asking for charity. Let me make that abundantly clear. We ask for equity, for finance that fits risk, for peace grounded in law, for rights that protect the vulnerable,” he said earlier in his speech.
Browne called for international partners to engage the reparations agenda “in good faith” as part of building a fairer global economy. He linked the issue to ongoing struggles with structural inequality, noting how colonialism and slavery had locked Caribbean economies into rigid trade routes and underdevelopment.
His remarks echoed long-standing demands from Caribbean leaders who, through the CARICOM Reparations Commission, have pressed for negotiations with former colonial powers. Browne’s intervention brought the call to one of the world’s largest diplomatic stages, framing it as a matter of justice and dignity for small states and their people.
