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The Africa Dialogue Series 2025 (ADS 2025) continues in New York, dedicated to the African Union’s theme of the year: Justice for Africans & People of African Descent through Reparations. One of the most impactful speeches came from Eric Phillips, Chair of the Guyana Reparations Committee and Vice President of the CARICOM Reparations Commission.
Phillips emphasized that the reparations movement is not just a symbolic gesture — it is taking on tangible institutional forms and a clear political dimension. The core message: the era of impunity is over. Africa and the Caribbean are uniting their efforts and building legal, economic, and diplomatic mechanisms of pressure.
“In 1884, the Berlin Conference divided Africa among 14 European empires. It erased cultures, drew artificial borders, and paved the way for resource exploitation that continues to this day,” Phillips said. He drew particular attention to the case of Haiti — a country forced to pay reparations to its former colonizer, France, after gaining independence.
In his speech, Phillips outlined the key steps needed to launch a meaningful reparations process: cancellation of colonial-era debts; reparative funding for healthcare, education, and infrastructure; equal access to global credit without racial or structural bias; cultural restitution and the repatriation of stolen artifacts.
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“Today, united with the African Union, we form a global front of 1.5 billion descendants of colonized peoples. We are no longer politely requesting — we are building political, legal, and economic tools of influence,” he declared.
The call for reparations is also gaining ground across the African continent. On April 19, a major conference was held in Dakar, focused on colonial legacies and the Thiaroye massacre. In Mali, public debates were hosted on Africable Television around the same issue.
ADS2025 is emerging as a platform for consolidating these demands. For the first time, the conversation around colonial reparations is moving to an intercontinental political front. Africa and the Caribbean are aligning their agendas — sending a clear signal to the world: the time of impunity is over. The era of justice is beginning.