Jamaica to file slavery reparations petition during UK visit

Petition to King Charles questions the legality of slavery under English law and UK’s responsibility for reparations.Published On 7 Sep 20267 Sep 2026A Jamaican delegation to the United Kingdom has said it will file a petition addressed to King Charles III to seek legal guidance on the question of slavery reparations.This is the first time a British Commonwealth state will use this legal route “for the cause of reparatory justice”, the Jamaican delegation said, as the visit to London kicks off Monday.Jamaica’s Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport said its minister, Olivia Grange, will lead the delegation “to advance Jamaica’s push for reparations for the African ancestors who suffered under hundreds of years of enslavement”.The ministry added that it will meet with the British Museum to discuss “the repatriation of cultural artefacts taken from Jamaica”.The petition will ask the king, Jamaica’s head of state, to answer three questions on the transatlantic slave trade to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the Caribbean island’s highest court of appeal based in London.Under the Judicial Committee Act of 1833, the UK monarch has the authority to refer legal m...