General News of Wednesday, 15 November 2023

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

Africans deserve reparations for slave trade just as other injustices in human history - Akufo-Addo

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has stated that the plea to European countries for reparations for Africans and the Black diasporan community is not a request for plea of alms, but a demand for justice.

It can be recalled that President Akufo-Addo, during the 78th General Assembly of the United Nations, described the slave trade as a time of ‘horrors,’ requiring that the slave masters (Europeans), pay some compensations to African countries.

The president stated that while the generations of these European nations that perpetrated these evils are no longer around, it cannot be overlooked.

Speaking at the maiden edition of the Accra Reparations Conference 2023, on Tuesday, November 14, 2024, the president stressed that the call for reparatory justice should be accompanied by the return of cultural properties illegitimately taken from Africa during the transatlantic slave trade.

“Reparations are long overdue, victims of other injustices in human history have rightly received reparations and Africans deserve the same for the damage caused by the transatlantic slave trade,” President Akufo-Addo said, a report by 3news.com has said.

President Akufo-Addo further called on Europe to offer a formal apology to African countries for the crimes of the transatlantic slave trade.

The Accra Reparations Conference, held on November 14, 2023, aims at fostering discussions, knowledge sharing, and exploring legal and moral grounds for reparations.

It also focused on the models of reparatory justice, and mechanisms for acknowledgment, reconciliation, and healing within African and diaspora societies.

Ghana’s leading digital news platform, GhanaWeb, in conjunction with the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, is embarking on an aggressive campaign which is geared towards ensuring that parliament passes comprehensive legislation to guide organ harvesting, organ donation, and organ transplantation in the country.

WN/AE

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