President John Dramani Mahama has called on the global community to move beyond symbolic recognition of historical injustices and take concrete steps toward reparatory justice, including truth-telling, reconciliation, and meaningful redress for the transatlantic slave trade.
Speaking at the opening of the Next Steps High-Level Consultative Conference on Reparatory Justice in Accra, President Mahama described the transatlantic slave trade as one of the gravest crimes against humanity, whose enduring effects continue to shape global inequality, institutions, and development outcomes.
He stressed that while present generations did not perpetrate those atrocities, they carry a shared responsibility to confront their consequences through sustained dialogue, remembrance, and international cooperation.
As part of Ghana’s renewed leadership role in the reparations agenda, the President announced the establishment of three international panels to advance work on reparatory justice, the restitution of cultural artefacts, and legal frameworks for possible redress.
He said the initiatives are intended to guide the next phase of global engagement on the issue.
The conference attracted a wide array of global leaders and dignitaries, including the Presidents of Senegal, Namibia, Liberia, and São Tomé and Príncipe; the Prime Minister of Barbados; the Vice President of Equatorial Guinea; the Speaker of the Algerian Parliament; senior ministers from over 80 countries; and former President John Agyekum Kufuor.
According to President Mahama, the gathering represents a major milestone in the global conversation on reparatory justice and reinforces Ghana’s position as a key advocate for dialogue, healing, and cooperation on the legacy of slavery.
“Future generations will judge us not by the resolutions we adopted, but by the progress we achieved,” he said.
