New Report finds Britain owes £15-£20 trillion in Slavery Reparations

A report completed by the Brattle Group has estimated that former European colonising powers owe between £79-£102 trillion to countries populated by the descendants of former slaves, with Britain owing between £15-£20 trillion.

International Court of Justice Judge Patrick Lipton Robinson, who contributed to the report, said ministers "cannot continue to ignore the greatest atrocity, signifying man’s inhumanity to man."

In May 2021, The American Society of International Law (ASIL), in partnership with The University of the West Indies, hosted its first symposium on Reparations Under International Law for Enslavement of African Persons in the Americas and the Caribbean.

A second symposium took place in February 2023, focused on the calculation of reparations owed for the violations of international law arising from and caused by transatlantic chattel slavery. For this second symposium, members of ASIL engaged experts from The Brattle Group, an economic consulting firm, to build an economic framework to help calculate reparations for the violations of international law regarding transatlantic chattel slavery.

The report analyses the complex impact and legacy of slavery, calculating the true cost – not only economically but also the intangibles: the loss of life and liberty; the stolen wages; and the enduring inequality that reverberates across centuries. Its recognition of intergenerational trauma, loss of heritage, and resulting disparities in life expectancy, employment opportunities and income is meticulously analysed.

Britain’s extensive role in the slave trade enriched the capitalist class and left no part of our society untouched. So much of the inequality and racism we face in the present is a legacy of chattel slavery. You can read the full report by clicking the link below.