Ghana opened a global reparations summit in Accra on Wednesday, bringing together delegations from more than 80 countries for three days of talks on slavery and historical justice.
President John Dramani Mahama, who also serves as the African Union’s Champion for Reparations, is hosting the Ghana reparations summit. Talks began with technical consultations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, according to Ghana’s state broadcaster GBC.
A high level session follows on Thursday at the Kempinski Hotel Gold Coast City. The Ghana reparations summit closes on Friday with a commemorative event at Christiansborg Castle in Osu, a fortress with direct ties to the slave trade.
The gathering builds on a United Nations resolution adopted on 25 March. UN News reported that the resolution, sponsored by Ghana, declared the transatlantic slave trade the gravest crime against humanity. It passed with 123 votes in favour, three against and 52 abstentions.
The United States, Israel and Argentina voted against the resolution, UN News said. Britain, France and other European Union states abstained, along with Canada and Japan, according to PassBlue.
Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa described the Ghana reparations summit as one of the most consequential meetings on reparatory justice in recent history, GBC Ghana Online reported. He said the resolution marks the start of a new phase focused on implementation rather than recognition alone.
Ablakwa confirmed that French President Emmanuel Macron will give a virtual address to the Ghana reparations summit. Dozens of ministers responsible for foreign affairs, justice and culture are also expected in Accra, he said.
Organisers expect the Ghana reparations summit to produce a post adoption global framework guiding how the UN resolution is carried out. GBC Ghana Online reported that three new bodies are planned, namely a reparatory justice advisory panel, a cultural restitution expert panel and a legal panel on reparations.
A permanent transcontinental forum is also proposed to keep Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe and North America in continuous dialogue, the broadcaster reported. A summary of the talks will feed into a report by the UN Secretary General ahead of the 82nd session of the General Assembly.
Ghana’s coastal forts give the Ghana reparations summit added historical weight. Cape Coast Castle and Elmina Castle, both UNESCO World Heritage sites, served as major departure points for enslaved Africans, GBC Ghana Online noted in earlier coverage of the reparations debate.
The timing also follows a recent apology from Pope Leo XIV over the Catholic Church’s role in the slave trade. Ghana News Online reported that the Pope described slavery as a wound in Christian memory in his encyclical. Ghana’s government called the apology an act of moral courage.
The Ghana reparations summit forms part of a wider African Union push. The continental body has declared 2026 to 2036 a decade dedicated to justice for Africans and people of African descent through reparations, with Accra positioned as a hub for that agenda.
Civil society groups have welcomed the momentum building since March. The International Service for Human Rights said the UN vote represented a victory for advocates, Maroon communities and families who have long campaigned for reparatory justice.
Ablakwa told the General Assembly in March that African leaders were not seeking money for themselves, according to AllAfrica. “We are demanding compensation,” he said, adding that any funds raised should support education and skills training for victims of the slave trade.
Caribbean nations were among the strongest backers of the original UN resolution. The Caribbean Community lent its support alongside the African Union, and several Caribbean leaders are listed among the delegations expected at the Accra gathering this week, according to the International Service for Human Rights.
Latin American and Asia Pacific states also voted in favour of the resolution in March, helping it pass by a wide margin despite opposition from Western governments, PassBlue reported. Organisers in Accra say that breadth of support gives the conference a stronger mandate to agree practical steps rather than further declarations.
Accra has held reparations talks before. The African Union convened a conference in the city in November 2023, producing the Accra Proclamation on Reparations, which itself drew on earlier gatherings in Abuja in 1993 and Durban in 2001, according to the African Union.
This week’s Ghana reparations summit is designed to go further than those earlier meetings by turning the UN resolution into binding mechanisms rather than a statement of principle, organisers say.
Discussions at the Ghana reparations summit this week are expected to test whether the diplomatic win at the UN can translate into a unified plan accepted by African states, the diaspora and international partners alike.
