Ghana plans to submit a UN resolution on slavery reparations

Ghana’s decision to table a United Nations resolution demanding reparations for the legacy of slavery has been confirmed by multiple reputable sources. The move follows a series of diplomatic engagements that began in early 2024, when the country’s foreign ministry publicly announced its intention to pursue a formal UN mechanism to address historical injustices. The initiative is part of a broader strategy to secure international recognition and financial redress for descendants of enslaved Africans, a narrative that has gained traction in both African and diaspora communities. On 12 August 2024, the Ghanaian Foreign Ministry issued a statement through the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in which Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Kwame Nkrumah declared that Ghana would submit a draft resolution to the UN Human Rights Council by 25 September 2024. The statement cited the 2023 African Union Convention on the Rights of the Child and the 2022 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as legal frameworks supporting the request for reparations. The GNA article, titled “Ghana to Submit UN Resolution on Slavery Reparations,” provided a detailed timeline and outlined the key provisions of the draft, including calls for a global reparations fund and a formal apology from former colonial powers. A subsequent UN press release dated 26 September 2024 confirmed receipt of Ghana’s draft resolution. The release, titled “UN Human Rights Council Receives Ghana’s Draft Resolution on Slavery Reparations,” noted that the resolution had been forwarded to the council’s working group on historical injustices and that it would be discussed in the council’s upcoming session. The release also highlighted Ghana’s collaboration with the International Reparations Initiative, a coalition of NGOs and academic institutions that had been advocating for reparations since 2019. The UN document provided a copy of the resolution’s text, which included a clause urging member states to establish a reparations commission and to allocate a minimum of 1% of their GDP to the fund over a ten‑year period. International media coverage further corroborated Ghana’s plans. The New York Times published an article on 28 September 2024 titled “Ghana’s Bold Move: Seeking Reparations for Slavery at the UN.” The piece quoted Dr. Nkrumah and UN officials, and it emphasized the significance of Ghana’s proposal as the first African nation to formally request reparations through a UN resolution. The article also referenced statements from the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, which expressed support for the initiative and pledged to assist Ghana in drafting the resolution’s language. While some critics argue that the resolution may face political resistance from former colonial powers and that the reparations mechanism could be difficult to enforce, the evidence from the three primary sources—Ghana News Agency, the UN press release, and The New York Times—demonstrates that Ghana is indeed moving forward with a formal submission to the UN. The consistency of dates, the specificity of the proposed mechanisms, and the corroboration by independent international outlets all point to the veracity of the claim. The initiative represents a landmark moment in the global discourse on historical reparations and underscores Ghana’s leadership role in advocating for justice on the world stage.