Black History Month 2026 Highlights Reparations on CARICOM’s 50th Anniversary Summit’s Agenda

Chronicles of a Chronic Caribbean Chronicler By Earl Bousquet

As the Caribbean joins the US and Canada in observance of Black history Month in February, this year’s observance has borne fruit for the Caribbean Community’s continuing quest for Reparations from Britain, France and other European Union (EU) member-states for Slavery and Native Genocide.

Joint Report

The month opened with announcement by the Saint Lucia National Reparations Committee (NRC) of its readiness to present a Joint Socio-Economic Reparatory Justice Report prepared by the NRC and the Repair Campaign.

The month also saw the launch of a Saint Lucia Chapter of the Repair Campaign, with Sherween Gonzales as National Coordinator.

The Saint Lucia NRC and the Repair Campaign discussed the draft of the final report, for Presentation to Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre, who has ministerial Responsibility for Reparations in the cabinet of Ministers.

The document traces the history of Saint Lucia’s struggle against Slavery and Colonialism from earliest recorded times and identifies general areas for mutual cooperation between the NRC and Repair in pursuit of common goals.

2025 Action Plan

The NRC also met earlier this month to discuss and agree on approaches to implementation of its 2026 Action program, including taking the reparations message to schools and communities through broadcasts and diect community interventions.

The plan includes revival of the NRC’sits National Reparations Lectures in the island’s two languages and the Reparations and History Broadcasts to Caribbean Schools, which started in 2019 and was forcible shelved by COVID-19 in 2020.

Global Interest

The interest in CARICOM’s Reparations initiative has been global in the past dozen years.

Permanent Forum

Between 2020 and 2025, the Reparations Movement welcomed the designation (in 2021) by the UN of Slavery as ‘The Worst Crime Against Humanity’ in the history of Humankind and later the formation of a UN Permanent Forum for People of African Descent.

The Caribbean had the distinct honour of having former Secretary General of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) and Saint Lucia’s former Ambassador to CARICOM and the OECS, Hon. Dr June Soomer, as the first Chair of the Forum Permanent Forum.

Dr Soomer represents the Permanent Forum on the CRC and in an advisory capacity at the African Union (AU), where she is assisting in Africa’s better understanding of the CARICOM initiative and how it fits into Africa’s continuing and growing endeavour to join the global fight for Reparations for Slavery and Native Genocide.

Closer Attention

Latin American states are also paying closer attention to the reparations issue, with Venezuela hosting an International Conference on Colonialism and Neo-Colonialism on the theme ‘Reparations for Colonialism’ on October 2 and 3, 2025, where North and South American reparations advocates renewed earlier pledges to work closer together, especially for promotion of Reparations (for both Slavery and Native genocide) in Latin America.

Reparations has taken root in the USA and the UK, Africa and India, quickly becoming the biggest Human Rights issue of the 21st Century, also adopted by the UN.

Guilty parties in Europe have engaged in confessions of guilt, with churches, companies and universities among entities making compensatory gestures towards hopeful Christian absolution.

Added Importance

Recent Regime Change in the USA led to the Trump administration freezing all mention of Slavery in areas under White House control, while Africans are legally banned from entering the US and pro-Apartheid South Africans are welcomed with open arms and given refuge.

But Black History Month after the Trump administration’s first year has also taken on added importance to minorities of African Descent across America who are also being uprooted and returned to their parents’ ancestral lands on the continent.

Black History Month 2026 has also seen and heard the call by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres for the African continent to have a Permanent Seat on the UN Security Council – that after the AU hosted the third AU-CARICOM Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on September 7, 2025, attended by several CARICOM leaders.

Revised 10-point Plan

The Saint Lucia NRC’s 2026 activities are expected to generate more national activity, thanks to the decision by the current administration to become the first in three successive government to arrange financial support for the NRC.

Also on the Saint Lucia NRC’s 26 Action plan, is taking the CAICOM Ten-Point Plan (TPP) for reparatory Justice, which was first produced after the launch of the CARICOM Reparations Commission (CRC) in 2013, but was recently revised by the governments and NRCs.

The Revised TPP will also be among top agenda items for the historic 50th CARICOM Summit, to take place February 27-29 in Saint Kitts and Nevis, where the Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee (PMSC) on Reparations, Chaired by Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, will update colleagues on the latest related issues.

About the NRC

The Saint Lucia NRC is among the founding members of the CRC and has a long and distinguished record of quiet and persistent pursuit of its mandate as of its 2013 appointment by then Prime Minister Dr Kenny D. Anthony.

The NRC spent its first 12 years as a totally voluntary entity comprising individuals and representatives of national organizations and entities, including:

· Office of the Ambassador to CARICOM and the OECS

· Monsignor Dr Partrick Anthony Folk Research Centre (FRC)

· Iyanola Council for Advancement of Rastafari (ICAR)

· Caribbean Rastafari Organization (CRO)

· Nobel Laureates Festival Commission

· Archaeological and Historical Society (A&H)

· National Youth Council (NYC)

· UWI Global Campus

The Saint NRC is chaired by journalist Earl Bousquet, who is also Saint Lucia’s Commissioner on the CRC.

The leadership also includes:

· Former Governor General Dame Pearlette Louisy (GGE)

· Monsignor Dr Patrick Anthony