Dominica Announces Formation of National Committee on Reparations

Above: Dominica (CJ Photo)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Following the Caribbean Community’s recent agreement to set up national committees on reparations for slavery, Dominica has announced the formation of its own national committee.

The purpose of the national committees is to “establish the moral, ethical and legal case for the payment of reparations by the former colonial European countries, to the native and people of the Caribbean Community, for native genocide, the transatlantic slave trade and a racialized system of chattel slavery,” according to the government.

At the recent CARICOM Heads of Government Summit in St Vincent and the Grenadines, regional leaders also agreed to set up a CARICOM Reparations Commission that would include the chairs of the national committees and a representative of the Universityof the West Indies.

Dominica’s full Reparations Committee can be found below:

Ambassador Damian Dublin – Chairman
Dr. Alwin Bully
Dr Lennox Honnyhurch
Garnett Joseph – Carib Chief
Gregory Rabess
Bernard Imani Shaw – Representative of the House of Nyabinghi
Franklyn Georges
Bernard Nicholas
Ambassador Felix Gregoire

According to the government, the terms of reference for the committee include disseminating information on the “historical, relevant and justifiable aspects of the reparations struggle,” promoting the teaching of black history in schools and to ” indigenous Kalinago struggle re native Genocide as an integral aspect of the overall Reparations Struggle,” among other features.