CARIBBEAN | The Case for Repair in Three Minutes: Sir Hilary Beckles at the United Nations
United Nations Caribbean, Sir Hilary Beckles discusses reparations
United Nations Caribbean published a short UN Web TV interview with Sir Hilary Beckles on 3 April 2024. It runs about three minutes.
The UN’s description introduces Beckles as “one of the world’s foremost experts on the Transatlantic Slave Trade,” vice-chancellor of the University of the West Indies and chairman of the CARICOM Reparations Commission. In the video he discusses the importance of reparations for the trade.
The occasion was 25 March 2024, the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, when — the UN says — Beckles joined Secretary-General António Guterres to pay tribute to the millions of men, women and children who suffered as a result of the trade.
Most people meet the reparations argument as a headline, often a hostile one. Three minutes of its leading Caribbean advocate making the case directly, on a United Nations platform, is a better place to start than the commentary about it.
It is short by design and it is not a debate. Watch it alongside TVJ’s report on Jamaica’s petition to King Charles, also on the Video Reel, which shows where the argument has reached since.
Video: United Nations Caribbean (@caribbeanun), “Sir Hilary Beckles Discusses Reparations for the Transatlantic Slave Trade”, a UN Web TV video, published 3 April 2024. Quoted passages are from the UN’s own published video description. WiredJA is not affiliated with the United Nations.
