Barbados will host the third CARICOM Regional Conference on Reparations from September 17–19, bringing regional and international voices together to chart the next steps in the Caribbean’s reparatory justice movement.
According to a CARICOM press release, the conference is being organised by the CARICOM Reparations Commission (CRC), the Government of Barbados and the CARICOM Secretariat under the theme, “Reparatory Justice as the Coming Enlightenment.” The three-day event will be held at the Wyndham Grand Sam Lord’s Castle in Saint Philip.
The conference follows the adoption of United Nations Resolution A/RES/80/250 on March 25, 2026, which declared the trafficking and racialised chattel enslavement of Africans as “the gravest crime against humanity.”
A major focus will be practical implementation of the revised CARICOM Ten-Point Plan for Reparatory Justice, while examining new perspectives emerging from African and Caribbean political discourse. Discussions will also consider global progress in reparations, including the 25th anniversary of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, the Second International Decade for People of African Descent and the African Union Decade for Reparatory Justice.
The release said the meeting is expected to strengthen cooperation among CARICOM, the African Union, civil society and the global African diaspora and encourage greater political, diplomatic and community participation.
A key outcome is expected to be a 2027–2031 Action Plan for Reparatory Justice, with measurable targets for joint action across the global African community.
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, CARICOM Secretary-General Dr Carla Barnett and CRC Chair Sir Hilary Beckles will address the opening. CARICOM Heads of Government, members of the Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee on Reparations and African Union representatives will also take part.
Ministers, national reparations bodies, Associate Members, the United Nations, activists from the USA, Canada, UK, EU and Latin America, as well as scholars, civil society leaders, cultural figures and youth delegates are expected.
The first conference was held in St Vincent and the Grenadines in September 2013, launching the CRC, while the second took place in Antigua and Barbuda in September 2014. The CRC has since hosted conferences and symposia, including events on banking and colonialism, Sir William Arthur Lewis, and reparations and royalty.
Registration and further information are available through the official conference website.
