“The Berlin Africa Conference marked a critical point in Europe's colonial history,” said Almaz Teffera, researcher on racism in Europe at Human Rights Watch.
European governments have yet to reckon with and meaningfully address the ongoing impacts of their colonial legacies affecting people of African descent on the African continent and in the diaspora, Human Rights Watch said today. November 15, 2024, is the 140th anniversary of the 1884 opening of the Berlin Africa Conference, at which 19 European countries and the US came together to organize and expand Europe’s colonial domination and exploitation across Africa.
“The Berlin Africa Conference marked a critical point in Europe's colonial history,” said Almaz Teffera, researcher on racism in Europe at Human Rights Watch. “The passage of so many years has not ended the need for European governments to address their colonial legacies and to create victim-centered reparations processes grounded in international human rights law with meaningful participation of affected communities.”
In November 2023, the African Union organized a conference in Accra at which delegates adopted a proclamation that called for reparations to Africans both on the continent and in the diaspora as an acknowledgment of the profound harm caused by Europe’s colonialism, enslavement, and the slave trade. The proclamation also declared 2025 the year for “Justice for Africa Through Reparations,”.
At the European Union level, some members of the European Parliament proposed a draft resolution on reparatory justice and sustainable development, acknowledging the lasting impacts of European colonialism on racial inequities in the world. The resolution was circulated at the end of 2023 but never made it to a vote before the European Parliament elections in June 2024.
“European governments have largely ignored and even rejected communities’ calls for reparations to address Europe’s historic legacies,” Teffera said. “European leaders should understand that addressing the legacies of their states is not a choice but an obligation under international human rights law.”
Source: Human Rights Watch