Should Belize Also Seek Reparations from Great Britain for Slavery?

The Caribbean tour for the royal visit to commemorate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee saw Prince William and Katherine visit Belize, Jamaica, and the Bahamas. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are currently in the Bahamas on the last leg of the tour. But in Jamaica, some residents staged protests, calling for not only an apology, but compensation from the U.K., for the impact that the slave trade had on their ancestors. Like Jamaica, Belize had been a colony of Great Britain, so should we too be beneficiaries of reparation? U.D.P. Chairman Michael Peyrefitte commented on this and the royal visit.

Michael Peyrefitte

Michael Peyrefitte, Chairman, U.D.P.

“I think we should benefit from everything that we should benefit from, so the experts would have to analyse what happened in the past and if somehow Britain was responsible for any damage caused to us.  In a very technical and scientific way, we have to be able to measure amounts, we have to be able to measure different things and if we can come up with a figure and we can come up with a position to say yes, based on their actions, they are directly responsible for certain wrongs in the past then indeed we should be entitled to reparations. However, you cannot expect to have a serious discussion with a royal visit. Let’s be full and frank. The royal family does not determine what happens to the British purse. So serious discussions cannot be had with a person who would be king; he is not even the next in line to be king, so what discussions would have been produced with speaking to a person who has to wait until his father dies before he becomes king.  Serious discussions would only take place when government officials from Belize sit down with government officials from the UK and only then can reparations talk really seriously start to take place. Because even if the Prince had said yes man, unu deserve reparations, he doesn’t get to make that decision. So what difference would it have made to have a serious discussion with him about that? I think the discussions do need to be had, I think the situation needs to be analyzed and if it is determined that we do deserve that and we have earned that – which I think we have and we do – then we need to get down to the nitty gritty and start to talk some numbers as to how they will assist Belize for the wrongs that were perpetrated against Belize. But having a discussion with a member of the royal family on that issue, if you understand the structure of England, would be futile.”