Judge Patrick Robinson
UK cannot ignore calls for slavery reparations, says leading UN judge
Exclusive: Patrick Robinson says reparation for transatlantic slavery ‘is required by history and is required by law
A leading judge at the international court of justice has said the UK will no longer be able to ignore the growing calls for reparation for transatlantic slavery.
Judge Patrick Robinson, who presided over the trial of the former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milošević, said the international tide on slavery reparations was quickly shifting and urged the UK to change its current position on the issue.
“They cannot continue to ignore the greatest atrocity, signifying man’s inhumanity to man. They cannot continue to ignore it. Reparations have been paid for other wrongs and obviously far more quickly, far more speedily than reparations for what I consider the greatest atrocity and crime in the history of mankind: transatlantic chattel slavery,” Robinson said.
“I believe that the United Kingdom will not be able to resist this movement towards the payment of reparations: it is required by history and it is required by law.”
Robinson spoke exclusively to the Guardian ahead of Unesco’s Day for Remembering the Transatlantic Slave Trade and Abolition. He is scheduled to make the keynote address on Wednesday at the London mayor’s office to mark the day.
The event follows the key role that Robinson played in writing and compiling the Brattle Group Report on Reparations for Transatlantic Chattel Slavery, which was published in June. The report, which has been described as the most comprehensive state-to-state reparations analysis, identifies the reparations that are due in respect of 31 countries in which transatlantic slavery was practised.
The study estimates that trillions of dollars are owed in reparations to countries affected by transatlantic slavery. The report, which was published by the University of the West Indies after a symposium held by the American Society of International Law, concludes that the UK alone is required to pay a sum of $24tn (£18.8tn) as reparations for transatlantic slavery in 14 countries. Of that sum, about $9.6tn is due to Jamaica. The report uses calculations made by the Brattle Group, which factors in the wealth and GDP amassed by countries that enslaved African people.
When asked if the high figures came as a surprise, Robinson said no. “These calculations are not over a period of five years or 10 years. They cover the entire duration of transatlantic chattel slavery, which means they cover hundreds of years. What is more, reparations have never been paid. So the calculations begin from day one of transatlantic chattel slavery, that is hundreds of years; and that alone explains the high figures.”
To address the figures, Robinson said the report proposed that payments be made over a longer period of time, between 10 and 25 years, rather than instantly.
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