Portugal should consider paying reparations for slavery, according to new guidance adopted by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD). The committee approved a document establishing general guidance on the reparation of racial discrimination, covering countries that were involved in the slave trade, including Portugal.
The CERD guidance recommends that States recognise the historical and contemporary effects of slavery and the slave trade, adopting appropriate reparation measures. The committee emphasises that structural racial discrimination has deep historical roots and that this legacy needs to be addressed concretely.
Portugal thus finds itself among the countries called upon to reflect on this issue, in a context where the international debate on the role of colonial powers and the prolonged impact of slavery on contemporary societies is growing. The CERD guidance does not impose binding legal obligations, but represents a political and moral position by the UN on the matter.
The debate on reparations has been gaining momentum in various countries, with different positions on how any compensation should be implemented, whether through financial support, educational programmes or other measures of historical justice.
