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UK government and royals called on to investigate slavery links after Guardian apology
UN experts lead calls for public and private bodies to take steps toward restorative justice
UN experts are leading calls for the British government and royal family to investigate their historical links to transatlantic slavery and take steps toward restorative justice.
The Scott Trust, which owns the Guardian, apologised on Tuesday for the role the newspaper’s founders had in transatlantic slavery and announced a decade-long multimillion-pound programme of restorative justice.
The independent academic research into the Guardian’s past and the programme of restorative justice have been welcomed by UN experts and campaigners, who have called for other institutions to follow suit.
Prof Verene A Shepherd, the chair of the UN committee on the elimination of racial discrimination and director for the Centre for Reparation Research at the University of the West Indies, said: “I have read with interest that the owner of the Guardian has issued an apology for the role the newspaper’s founders had in the transatlantic trafficking in enslaved peoples and announced a decade-long programme of restorative justice.
WHAT IS THE COTTON CAPITAL SERIES?
Cotton Capital explores how transatlantic slavery shaped the Guardian, Manchester, Britain and the world. Stemming from an investigation into the Guardian founders’ own links to slavery, this continuing series explores our history and its enduring legacies today.
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