A United Nations committee stated that States must be legally obligated to offer reparations for damages caused by their involvement, direct or indirect, in the Atlantic slave trade of African enslaved people. The conclusion was presented as a new interpretation of an important international human rights treaty.
The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) established that signatory countries must work to repair the effects of slavery and its consequences. The committee stated that States must adopt comprehensive reparation measures for Afro-descendant people.
The reparation measures must combine monetary, non-monetary, and structural actions. The States parties must implement these comprehensive measures for Afro-descendant people affected by the Atlantic slave trade.
