Call for legal framework to address colonial-era reparations

African leaders are pushing to have colonial-era crimes recognised, criminalised and addressed through reparations. The Guardian reports that at a conference in the Algerian capital, Algiers, diplomats and leaders convened to advance an African Union resolution passed at a meeting earlier this year calling for justice and reparations for victims of colonialism. Algerian Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf said Algeria’s experience under French rule highlighted the need to seek compensation and reclaim stolen property. A legal framework, he added, would ensure restitution is seen as ‘neither a gift nor a favour’. ‘Africa is entitled to demand the official and explicit recognition of the crimes committed against its peoples during the colonial period, an indispensable first step toward addressing the consequences of that era, for which African countries and peoples continue to pay a heavy price in terms of exclusion, marginalisation and backwardness,’ Attaf said. The UN Charter prohibits the seizure of territory by force but does not explicitly reference colonialism. That absence was central to the African Union’s February summit, where leaders discussed a proposal to develop a unified position on reparations and formally define colonisation as a crime against humanity. The economic cost of colonialism in Africa is believed to be staggering, with some estimates in the trillions. European powers extracted natural resources often through brutal methods, amassing vast profits from gold, rubber, diamonds and other minerals, while leaving local populations impoverished. African states have in recent years intensified demands for the return of looted artefacts still housed in European museums.