Widening the reparations debate

The debate on reparations for slavery has entered the mainstream international discourse. The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in October 2024 acknowledged the moral imperative to address the historical injustices of trans-Atlantic slavery, colonialism and associated atrocities. However, these concerns are narrowly focused on claims against a limited number of Western nations. This article argues that such a focus is historically incomplete and morally constrained. Slavery was – and in some cases still is – a far broader phenomenon, involving African, Arab, Ottoman, Indian and other non-European actors over the course of at least 5,000 years.