27-06-2025
Jamaica pushes King to back slavery reparations
The Jamaican government has urged the King to support slavery reparations.
The Caribbean country is the first to exploit 19th-century colonial legislation to directly petition the monarch, who remains head of state of the island nation, to refer the issue to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.
The committee is the highest court of appeal for the 15 independent Commonwealth realms which retain the King as their head of state.
Jamaica hopes that, after being asked by the King to examine the reparations issue, the committee could then give an opinion on whether Britain has a legal 'obligation' to offer a 'remedy'.
Legal experts believe official recognition would 'open the door' to the payments, with campaigners seeking up to £18 trillion.
The Telegraph understands that other Caribbean countries which retain the King as head of state could follow Jamaica and pursue the same strategy.
Olivia Grange, the Jamaican culture minister, announced the plan this week, telling Parliament: 'We will be submitting a petition to His Majesty King Charles III to refer to the Privy Council a set of questions that we want answered within his current position as head of state of Jamaica.'
Derrick McKoy, the attorney general of Jamaica, has been asked by Ms Grange to submit the petition.
Members of Caricom, a political grouping of 15 Caribbean states, have long demanded reparation payments from Britain and other colonial powers, including France and the Netherlands.
However, the calls have been repeatedly rebuffed by successive UK governments, which have refused to discuss the issue.
The latest high-profile attempt was in 2024 when Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, came under pressure from Commonwealth members ahead of a summit in Samoa.
Jamaica's new strategy seeks to apply renewed pressure on the UK by exploiting the Judicial Committee Act 1833.
Under the legislation, which still applies to Jamaica following independence in 1962, colonies were permitted to petition the monarch on judicial matters and stated that the King could 'refer… any such other matters whatsoever as His Majesty shall think fit'.
'Crime against humanity'
Jamaica wants the committee to offer an opinion on whether the slave trade was illegal under British common law at the time it existed, and whether it could now be legally considered a 'crime against humanity'.
It is hoped that in answering these questions, the committee could issue advice on whether 'the UK is under an obligation to provide a remedy to the Jamaican people for the unlawful transport and subsequent enslavement of African people'.
The petition, officially 'on behalf of the Jamaica people', has been drawn up with the help of attorney and reparations campaigner, Bert Samuels, who said the request would go 'straight to Buckingham Palace'.
He explained that if the King sought advice, then: 'The Judicial Committee can then give [an] opinion. You could get an opinion that slavery was indeed a crime against humanity.
'This would open the door for reparations to be paid.'
Nicola Diggle, an expert on the Privy Council with London law firm Blake Morgan, said the King would not be obliged to refer the issue, and neither was the committee obligated to offer any advice or opinions on the matter.
A palace source said that if the King were to receive such a petition, he would act, as always, on the advice of the relevant authorities.
The idea of petitioning the King has been credited to Jamaican lawyer Frank Phipps, who has long worked with Caricom's Reparations Commission.
In 2014, the commission unveiled a 10-point plan for reparative justice, including demands for an official apology and financial compensation, and sought advice on how to bring a legal case.
The Telegraph revealed in February that Lord Hermer, the current Attorney General, worked on plans to take action against the UK. However, in the end, the case was not pursued.
Next week, MPs are due to discuss slavery reparations with a delegation from the Caribbean, led by the Repair Campaign group.
Sir Keir and David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, have been made aware of the series of briefings planned in Parliament to drum up support for reparations.
Insiders said there had been plans earlier in the year for Mr Lammy to host a 'Caricom forum', which would hear submissions about reparations. However, sources said this was pushed back because of the conflict between Israel and Iran.
Campaigners had hoped that Mr Lammy, of Guyanese descent, and Labour more generally might be sympathetic to their cause after the Tories repeatedly refused to discuss the issue.
