In June 2026, leaders from African countries and Caribbean nations met in Ghana and issued a joint demand: European countries that profited from slavery should apologize, cancel debts owed to them, and pay direct financial compensation to the descendants of enslaved people and to affected nations.

This is not the first time these countries have made this demand, but what is new is that they are now speaking with one unified voice. In September 2025, leaders met again and agreed on something crucial: this is not just about fixing a historical wrong. It is about fixing economic problems that slavery created and that still exist today. For example, wealth stolen during centuries of slavery never went back to Africa or the Caribbean. That missing wealth affects everything from education to healthcare to economic growth in those regions today.

Think of it like this: if someone stole your family's house 400 years ago and their descendants still live in it and benefit from it, while your family is still living in worse conditions as a result, most people would say the descendants owe something to your family. That is essentially the argument African and Caribbean leaders are making to Europe.

African and Caribbean governments are setting up formal institutions to support this demand. The African Union adopted an official declaration in 2026 that makes reparations a major institutional priority. Caribbean nations agreed they will not negotiate separately with individual European countries — they will stay united. One Caribbean leader, Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados, called for a plan as large as the Marshall Plan, the massive American investment that rebuilt Europe after World War II. She is saying: if Europe could receive that kind of structural economic help to recover, then Africa and the Caribbean deserve similar help to recover from centuries of slavery.

The United Nations has also weighed in. Its Secretary-General called on the world to work toward reparations for Africans in May 2025. The UN also officially stated that slavery and the slave trade were crimes against humanity — a serious legal category that can be used in international courts.

But here is the real problem: words and declarations are not the same as action. African and Caribbean nations have been asking for formal apologies from European countries for years now. None of the major European powers — the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, Spain, or Portugal — has offered a full apology or committed to paying money. They have not been forced to do anything, because there is no international court or authority that can force them.

The African Union and CARICOM are betting that if they stay united and keep bringing up this issue in international forums and in the media, European governments will eventually feel enough pressure to negotiate. They do not have the power to force anything. But they can make it costly for European nations to ignore them, and they can build a record that might be used in future court cases. Whether that will actually lead to money changing hands — or whether this will be a long-term push that never fully succeeds — nobody knows yet.