Why Jamaica is seeking $10bn in reparations from the UK

Published On 7 Sep 20267 Sep 2026.

Key points

• During colonial rule, British merchants enslaved and forcibly transported 600, 000 to 1 million Africans to Jamaica between the 17th century and the early 19th century.
• In June 2023, a report by consulting firm Brattle Group, titled Reparations for Transatlantic Chattel Slavery, argued that the UK owes reparations to 14 Caribbean countries.
• In March 2024, British institutions such as the Church of England additionally pledged to put together a 1-billion-pound ($1.35bn) fund to address its role in slavery.
• The UK and Jamaica are additionally major trade partners, with UK exports to Jamaica reaching concerning $222m in 2025 and UK imports from Jamaica reaching regarding $76m.
• Under the Judicial Committee Act of 1833, the UK monarch has the authority to refer legal matters to the court for an advisory opinion.

In practice, a Jamaican delegation to the United Kingdom has remarked it will file a petition addressed to King Charles III to seek legal guidance on the question of slavery reparations.

As the visit to London kicks off on Monday, this is the first time a British Commonwealth state will employ this legal route "for the cause of reparatory justice", the Jamaican delegation stated. As the country is yet to transition from a constitutional monarchy to a republic, king Charles is Jamaica's head of state.

In practice, the Jamaican administration estimates that the country is owed concerning $10bn, but the UK has repeatedly refused to pay for historical slavery.

What is the latest petition all regarding, and how will the UK respond? Here's what we know. What are Jamaica and the UK's relations like?

Jamaica's relations with the UK stem back to 1655 when it became an English colony. Hundreds of thousands of enslaved African individuals toiled in Jamaica under more than 300 years of British rule and faced brutal conditions.

After Jamaica became independent, it established diplomatic ties with the UK and additionally became a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, an international political association of 56 member countries produced up of former British colonies, in August 1962.

Meanwhile, the UK and Jamaica are additionally major trade partners, with UK exports to Jamaica reaching concerning $222m in 2025 and UK imports from Jamaica reaching regarding $76m.

While Jamaica has been independent since 1962, it has continued to recognise the British monarch as its head of state. But over recent years, calls to ditch the British king as Jamaica's head of state have grown.

As well as prominent professors, politicians and other leaders, rejected a visit by the duke and duchess of Cambridge, calling on the United Kingdom to apologise and pay reparations for hundreds of years of slavery, in March 2022, Jamaican activists.

In an open letter published before the British royal couple's arrival, 100 Jamaican leaders had remarked they saw "no reason to celebrate" the Queen's coronation "because her leadership, and that of her predecessors, have perpetuated the greatest human rights tragedy in the history of humankind".

"During her 70 years on the throne, your grandmother has done nothing to redress and atone for the suffering of our ancestors that took place during her reign and/or during the entire period of British trafficking of Africans, enslavement, indentureship and colonialization, " the letter read.

In December 2024, the Jamaican administration additionally tabled a constitutional amendment bill in parliament to replace the British king as the head of state. What is Jamaica's latest petition regarding?

In June last year, Jamaica formally raised a petition addressed to the British monarch seeking slavery reparations.

On Monday, Jamaica's Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport remarked its minister, Olivia Grange, is anticipated to lead the country's delegation "to advance Jamaica's push for reparations for the African ancestors who suffered under hundreds of years of enslavement" in London.

Notably, the ministry continued that it would meet with the British Museum to discuss "the repatriation of cultural artefacts taken from Jamaica".

Meanwhile, the petition will ask the king, Jamaica's head of state, to answer three questions on the transatlantic slave trade to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the Caribbean island's highest court of appeal based in London.

For context, the questions include: whether the enslavement of Africans in Jamaica was legal under English common law, whether it violated international law, and whether the UK has a legal obligation to provide a remedy for the harm caused by slavery.

"We want the answers. Once we obtain the answers, or once we secure a response to those questions, then the next steps will be determined, " Grange noted.

Olivette Otele, a historian and distinguished research professor of the Legacies and Memory of Slavery at SOAS University of London, informed Al Jazeera that the king's role in the process was symbolic.

"He doesn't create any decisions. So it's really up to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council and additionally the British administration to respond to this petition. My sense is that they're going to say that enslavement was not legal under English law, " she remarked. Have other countries additionally sought reparations from the UK?

Over recent years, a number of Commonwealth nations have been demanding that the UK pay reparations for its role in the transatlantic slave trade.

At a session in Samoa in October 2024 for the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Administration Session (CHOGM), Commonwealth leaders remarked they would proceed with "plans to examine reparatory justice" for the slave trade.

At the summit, Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis had remarked it was time for the Commonwealth to seek "justice" for the brutal history of slavery.

"Let's have a conversation regarding this. We all appreciate this, the horrendous impact that the transatlantic slave business had on the African diaspora, and it requires justice, " Davis informed the news outlet Politico.

Notably, the UK's involvement in the slave trade began in 1562, and by the 1730s, the UK was the biggest slave trading nation in the world, according to the UK parliament's website.

Meanwhile, the website adds that British ships transported more than three million Africans, mainly to the UK's North American and Caribbean colonies.

In June 2023, a report by consulting firm Brattle Group, titled Reparations for Transatlantic Chattel Slavery, argued that the UK owes reparations to 14 Caribbean countries. These include Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago. How did the UK respond to this?

Reparations have been paid over slavery previously – to the owners of slaves. In 1833, the British administration agreed to compensation of 20 million pounds for slave owners for the "loss of their property" after passing legislation to abolish slavery in the British Empire, worth concerning 2 billion pounds ($2.6bn) today.

But UK leaders have so far resisted engaging in discussions regarding paying reparations to the countries that received trafficked slaves, and where their descendants now live.

In October 2024, former UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer's office remarked that the British administration would not be paying for slavery and would additionally not apologise for it.

Meanwhile, the British monarch has additionally not issued a formal apology for the crown's role in the transatlantic slave trade. Have other European colonial powers apologised for slavery?

So far, the Netherlands is the only European country to have apologised for its role in the transatlantic slave trade, in 2022. But the Netherlands ruled out paying reparations and instead established an approximately 200 million euros ($216m) fund to promote social initiatives in the Netherlands, the Dutch Caribbean and Suriname.

In March, even when the UN General Assembly voted to recognise the transatlantic slave trade as the "gravest crime against humanity", plenty of European nations, including the UK, abstained from voting in favour of the resolution. How is the UK probable to respond to Jamaica's latest petition?

In its current petition to the UK, the Jamaican administration estimates that the country is owed concerning $10bn from Britain, but how the UK will respond to the petition is yet to be determined.

"We understand the Jamaican government is seeking a petition to be heard before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, " a Buckingham Palace spokesperson remarked to journalists in the country in response to Jamaica's inquiry on Monday.

Otele remarked she would be surprised if the new British Labour Party-led administration decides to respond favourably to the requests created by the Jamaican administration, but highlighted that the latest petition is nevertheless significant.

Taken together, the developments around why Jamaica is seeking $10bn in reparations from the UK point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.