The call was made at the just con­clud­ed Com­mon­wealth Heads of Gov­ern­ment Meet­ing (CHOGM) in Samoa, where Com­mon­wealth lead­ers is­sued an his­toric de­c­la­ra­tion agree­ing to dis­cus­sions on the lega­cy of the transat­lantic slave trade, set­ting the stage for po­ten­tial repa­ra­tions talks.

The meet­ing, with rep­re­sen­ta­tives from Britain and 55 oth­er na­tions, many of whom are for­mer colonies, dis­cussed ad­dress­ing his­tor­i­cal in­jus­tices, in­clud­ing slav­ery, colo­nial­ism, and the last­ing im­pact on In­dige­nous com­mu­ni­ties.

Davis, speak­ing to the French news agency, AFP, hailed the de­ci­sion as a mean­ing­ful step to­ward heal­ing gen­er­a­tional wounds left by slav­ery.

“The hor­rors of slav­ery left a deep, gen­er­a­tional wound in our com­mu­ni­ties,” Davis said, high­light­ing the last­ing im­pacts of the transat­lantic slave trade on Ba­hami­ans and oth­er Com­mon­wealth cit­i­zens.

“The fight for jus­tice and repara­to­ry jus­tice is far from over,” he con­tin­ued, stress­ing the need for se­ri­ous, hon­est con­ver­sa­tions about repa­ra­tions to ad­dress sys­temic in­equal­i­ties re­sult­ing from colo­nial­ism.

The CHOGM de­c­la­ra­tion, dubbed the “Samoa Com­mu­nique,” calls for “mean­ing­ful, truth­ful, and re­spect­ful con­ver­sa­tion to­wards forg­ing a com­mon fu­ture based on eq­ui­ty.”

Caribbean na­tions, along with oth­er African and Pa­cif­ic mem­ber states, have long been vo­cal about the need for colo­nial pow­ers, par­tic­u­lar­ly Britain, to ac­knowl­edge and atone for the bru­tal lega­cy of slav­ery.

The transat­lantic slave trade, which forcibly dis­placed an es­ti­mat­ed 10 to 15 mil­lion Africans over four cen­turies, left a last­ing scar across the Caribbean, Africa, and oth­er re­gions, with eco­nom­ic and so­cial ram­i­fi­ca­tions still felt to­day.

The dis­cus­sions were in­tense and com­plex, with Britain’s rep­re­sen­ta­tives, led by Prime Min­is­ter Keir Starmer, aim­ing to strike a bal­ance be­tween ac­knowl­edg­ing his­tor­i­cal wrongs and avoid­ing ex­plic­it com­mit­ments to fi­nan­cial repa­ra­tions. Starmer em­pha­sised that the talks in Samoa fo­cused on rec­on­cil­i­a­tion, not mon­e­tary com­pen­sa­tion.

“Our po­si­tion is very, very clear in re­la­tion to that,” he stat­ed, un­der­scor­ing that the dis­cus­sions had been “very pos­i­tive” de­spite the del­i­cate na­ture of the is­sue.

Davis, how­ev­er, un­der­lined that the Caribbean’s push for repara­to­ry jus­tice was more than just a de­mand for com­pen­sa­tion; it was a call to re­pair a cen­turies-old lega­cy of ex­ploita­tion, in­equal­i­ty, and dis­pos­ses­sion.

He ex­pressed hope that the Com­mon­wealth’s agree­ment to en­gage in these con­ver­sa­tions would pave the way for fu­ture con­crete ac­tions and mea­sures.

Be­yond repa­ra­tions, Com­mon­wealth lead­ers reached a con­sen­sus on ad­dress­ing cli­mate change—an­oth­er press­ing is­sue for the Ba­hamas and oth­er is­land na­tions.

Recog­nis­ing the ex­is­ten­tial threat of ris­ing sea lev­els, the gath­er­ing adopt­ed an “Ocean De­c­la­ra­tion,” aimed at pre­serv­ing cur­rent na­tion­al mar­itime bound­aries and pro­tect­ing at least 30 per cent of ma­rine ar­eas and ecosys­tems by 2030.

Out­go­ing Sec­re­tary-Gen­er­al Baroness Pa­tri­cia Scot­land re­marked on the sig­nif­i­cance of se­cur­ing ma­rine bound­aries “in per­pe­tu­ity,” high­light­ing the de­c­la­ra­tion as a step to­ward en­vi­ron­men­tal re­silience.

The sum­mit con­clud­ed with the elec­tion of Ghana’s For­eign Min­is­ter Shirley Ay­orkor Botch­wey as the in­com­ing Sec­re­tary-Gen­er­al. Known for ad­vo­cat­ing repa­ra­tions and a cham­pi­on of the Com­mon­wealth free trade agree­ment, Botch­wey cel­e­brat­ed the ap­point­ment as a call to ac­tion, ex­press­ing grat­i­tude for the Com­mon­wealth’s trust.

“The work in­deed lies ahead!” she af­firmed, sig­nalling her com­mit­ment to ad­vanc­ing the or­gan­i­sa­tion’s goals on so­cial jus­tice and eco­nom­ic col­lab­o­ra­tion. (CMC)