The 2025 Global Africa People-to-People Forum ended with one message: enough talk. It is time to act.
Co-hosted by ECOSOCC, the Caribbean Pan-African Network (CPAN), the Emancipation Support Committee of Trinidad and Tobago, and Reform Initiatives, the Forum brought together representatives from the African Union, CARICOM, civil society, academia, and diaspora communities. It was not another ceremonial gathering. It was a working space with a clear goal to move the reparations agenda from theory to policy and real change.
The case for action
In his opening address, ECOSOCC Presiding Officer Mr. Louis Cheick Sissoko set the tone. Reparations, he said, are not about grievance. They are about dignity. He challenged civil society and diaspora groups to go beyond advocacy and push for clear legal, political, and economic pathways to reparative justice.
Barbados Prime Minister H.E. Mia Amor Mottley offered a sharp diagnosis. African and Caribbean nations gained independence without the foundation of fairness. The consequences remain: an unequal international order where systemic injustice is still embedded in global trade, debt, climate policy, and energy access. Reparations, she argued, must confront all of these - not just slavery and colonialism but the structures that replaced them.
Ambassador David Commissiong of CPAN echoed this. In his words, this is no longer about ideals. It is a necessity. The shared conditions of economic vulnerability and geopolitical marginalization demand Africa and the Caribbean work together. The time for silence and fragmentation has passed.
Director of the Citizens and Diaspora Organizations (CIDO) Division of the African Union, Ambassador Amr Aljowaily, gave an overview of the objectives of the AU Theme of the Year 2025 and the role of civil society and the diaspora in advancing its goals. He emphasized that strengthening the AU-CARICOM and AU-diaspora relationship is a central pillar of the AU Year of Reparations.
Four panels, one direction
Over the course of the Forum, four panels tackled the most urgent priorities:
- Advancing the global reparations movement
- Coordinating a joint agenda ahead of the Africa-CARICOM Summit
- Maximizing the UN's Second International Decade for People of African Descent
- Giving real substance to the AU Sixth Region and diaspora participation
Each conversation returned to a central point: symbolism is not enough. Representation must come with real decision-making power. Political solidarity must lead to practical outcomes. That means co-developing policy, harmonizing legal frameworks, and building joint financial strategies.
Young voices, clear demands
Youth voices were not token additions. They were among the most grounded and direct.
Zambian activist Ruth Kangwa called for reparations that address debt, education, and storytelling. She made it clear that history determines whose knowledge matters and whose lives are valued today. Ms. Gaynel Curry of the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent drove the point home: there is no sustainable development without reparations, and no reparations conversation is complete without addressing Haiti.
Ghana's Amb. H.E. Dr. Robert Afriyie emphasized financial justice. Makmid Kamara of Reform Initiatives added another layer: reparations must shift the way we think. This is not only a matter of payouts or policies. It is about resetting the worldview that allowed global inequality to flourish unchecked.
What happens now?
Closing the Forum, Dr. Khafra Kambon and ECOSOCC Head of Secretariat Mr. William Carew both reminded participants that momentum means little without follow-through. The conversations that began here must continue at the Africa-CARICOM Summit and beyond. Civil society must not wait for political instructions. It must lead.
The overall message? The Forum is not the goal. Action is.
For ECOSOCC, the road ahead is clear. As the advisory body of the African Union representing civil society, we are not observers in the reparations debate. We are contributing to it with evidence, coordination, and pupose.
Reparations are not charity. They are justice delayed. And justice delayed must no longer be justice denied.
