Ghana has drafted a paper proposing the integration of reparatory finance into the lending and development frameworks of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group.
The initiative seeks to channel additional resources into economies affected by historical injustices and incorporate reparations into global development financing.
Dr Ekow Spio-Garbrah, Special Envoy for Reparations, disclosed this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency on the sidelines of the just-ended 81st IMF/World Bank Group annual meetings in Bangkok, Thailand.
He said the proposal was among Ghana’s efforts to advance reparatory justice through international financial institutions, alongside its support for the African Union’s (AU) proposed Global Reparations Fund.
“The reparational agenda has not yet entered formally into this development financial institutional area, but I’m preparing for that necessity and possibility.
“Reparational finance is a new instrument, and at this time, the IMF and World Bank don’t about it. The paper is intended for a global audience, so, until we introduce it, it remains there,” he said.
Dr Spio-Garbrah, who formerly worked in different capacities at the IMF and World Bank, said the draft paper had been presented to the Presidency, the Ministries of Finance and Foreign Affairs, and the Bank of Ghana to help mainstream reparatory finance into global financial discussions.
He said Ghana was also advocating legislation to establish a National Reparations Council across all 55 African countries to help structure and advance the continent’s reparations agenda.
The proposal aligns with the AU’s recommendation for a Global Reparations Fund to support the implementation of its decade-long reparations agenda.
Dr Spio-Garbrah said Africa’s focus was on economic reparations, involving additional investment in economies affected by historical injustices.
He cited Germany’s agreement to pay €1.1 billion to Namibia over atrocities committed against the Herero people and the Netherlands’ allocation of €220 million to Caribbean islands as examples of progress in reparations.
Dr Spio-Garbrah said Ghana had a strong case for reparations, citing the more than 30 European-built forts and castles along its coast as evidence of the country’s historical involvement in the transatlantic slave trade.
He said Ghana’s approach was focused on addressing historical injustices through innovative financing, institutional reforms and international cooperation to support sustainable development and shared prosperity.
Reparations seek to address the damage caused by the transatlantic slave trade and colonisation, which spanned more than 400 years and involved the enslavement and killing of millions of Africans, as well as the dispossession of their lands, resources and cultural artefacts.
As part of its reparations campaign, Ghana led efforts in March for the United Nations to adopt Resolution 80/250, declaring the slave trade the gravest crime against humanity.
The resolution received 123 votes in favour, three against, while 52 countries abstained.