A century after its condemnation under international law, slavery is still being used to stir the highest global bodies. The states that directly or indirectly participated in the transatlantic trafficking of Africans reduced to slavery are now being asked to pay reparations. That is the stance adopted by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), which published on 31 August 2026 its new interpretation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of racial discrimination.
The text concerns 182 states, including France, the United States and the United Kingdom. According to the Committee, at least 12.5 million Africans were enslaved and deported over more than four centuries of the transatlantic trade.
One of the committee’s experts, Liberian jurist Pela Boker-Wilson, told the AFP she saw this as a “turning point.” Yet the committee itself is careful to stress one detail: the text has no binding force. It is not a law, nor a judgment. A state that ignored it would face no sanction, no trial, no fine. Pela Boker-Wilson prefers to speak of a “significant weight of authority”: the recommendation can be cited in court, invoked by lawyers, brandished in public debate, but by itself it obliges no state to spend a single cent.
“Acknowledgements and apologies accompanied by concrete measures”
The CERD avoids talking directly about money and prefers the broader formula of “restorative justice.” This includes compensation, restitution, rehabilitation, recognition, structural reforms and guarantees of non-repetition. The CERD also rejects the argument of elapsed time. “The elimination of racial discrimination cannot be effective, complete or lasting without a full commitment to examine and repair the harms and ongoing consequences of the trafficking of Africans reduced to slavery and racialized slavery,” it writes. It asks each state to set up a national action plan with precise deadlines.
Above all, the text stresses that official apologies are not enough. “Acknowledgements and apologies should be accompanied by concrete measures and should not substitute for other appropriate forms of reparation,” the committee warns. In other words, an emotional speech will no longer suffice. The CERD also singles out religious organisations, universities, companies, banks, insurers and financial institutions that participated in, facilitated or profited from the trade. The committee asks them to acknowledge their historical role, open their archives and contribute to reparations in proportion to their involvement and the benefits they derived.
In March 2026, the UN General Assembly had already described the transatlantic trade as the “most serious crime against humanity.” While 123 countries voted in favour, the United States, Israel and Argentina voted against, and 52 countries, including France, the United Kingdom and other EU members, abstained. Several states notably contested the idea of establishing a hierarchy among crimes against humanity. In 2022, the Netherlands created a fund of 200 million euros for social initiatives linked to its slavery past.
Ironically, history has sometimes worked the other way. In 1825, Haiti was forced to pay an indemnity to France: 150 million gold francs to compensate the former colonists of Saint-Domingue — a sum imposed in exchange for recognition of its independence.
As a concerned citizen, I welcome sincere efforts to confront historical injustices. But we should remain wary of grand pronouncements by UN committees that, while morally charged, lack legal force and risk fueling political pressure and collective guilt without clear, fair mechanisms. European countries, including France, would be better served by pragmatic national initiatives and honest historical work — and by constructive international dialogue rather than moralizing ultimatums.
