A BLOC of 15 Caribbean nations is set to demand $33 trillion in reparations from European countries over the historic slave trade.
The figure was arrived at by an American consulting firm that took into account legal damages for the enslavement of 19 million people over four centuries, The Times reported.
According to the firm’s calculations, the UK owes $19.6 trillion, Spain $6.3 trillion and France $6.5 trillion to the Caribbean nations.
The bloc seeks to hold negotiations with the governments of Britain, France, Spain and Denmark, seeking formal apologies from them and funding for health and education and the cancellation of debt and direct payments to the Caribbean governments.
Caricom Reparations Commission vice chair Verene Shepherd said the figures provided a starting point for negotiations.
Caricom or Caribbean Community is a political and economic union of 15 states of the region set up to coordinate their development planning.
“We need a figure to begin with, a negotiating figure... The crime is huge. The responsibility for what happened is huge,” Shepherd said.
Caricom leaders prefer negotiations to legal routes for securing reparations from the countries the bloc is targetting.
Caricom had previously approached the former colonial powers but “we didn’t get a positive response,” Shepherd.
There has been resistance to pay reparations and UK prime minister Rishi Sunak in April this year said it was “not something that we will focus our energies on”.
Formal apologies for slavery have rarely come from European countries - save the King of the Netherlands.
The reparations commission last month said, “People of African Descent continue to endure structures of inequality, racism and underdevelopment, born out of a history of slavery, apartheid, Jim Crow, historical and contemporary colonialism, that continue to retard their advancement and deny the full enjoyment of their human rights.”
Caribbean nations to seek $33 trillion in reparations over slave trade
Dharavi slum in Mumbai
During the hearing, Clifford denied all the charges except for the rape charge, which was added to the indictment at the session. (Photo: Hertfordshire Police /Handout via REUTERS)
Man pleads not guilty to murder of BBC presenter's family
A 26-year-old man has pleaded not guilty to charges of murdering the wife and two daughters of BBC sports commentator John Hunt in a crossbow and knife attack.
Kyle Clifford, who also faces charges of rape, appeared via video link at Cambridge Crown Court on Thursday.
Clifford, arrested in July after a manhunt, is charged with three counts of murder, one count each of rape and false imprisonment, and two counts of possessing offensive weapons – a 10-inch knife and a crossbow.
During the hearing, Clifford denied all the charges except for the rape charge, which was added to the indictment at the session.
He is expected to enter a plea for that charge at a later date.
The victims were Carol Hunt, 61, wife of horseracing commentator John Hunt, and their daughters Louise, 25, and Hannah, 28.
An earlier hearing revealed that Louise had been found tied up and that both she and her sister had been shot with a crossbow, while their mother had been stabbed with a knife.
The fatal attack occurred at the family’s home in Bushey, a commuter town near Watford, northwest of London.
(With inputs from AFP)