The CARICOM Reparations Commission was established by a decision of CARICOM Heads of Government in 2013. It is chaired by Sir Hilary Beckles and is funded through CARICOM’s institutional budget, which is itself funded by contributions from member states. The Commission has no independent legal status and no power to initiate legal proceedings.
The Commission’s primary function is political advocacy: preparing arguments, organising events, lobbying European governments, and maintaining the reparations issue on international agendas. It produces publications, coordinates with academic and civil society organisations, and engages with media. It is a communications and lobbying organisation operating under the umbrella of a political intergovernmental body.
This structure has implications for how the Commission’s output should be assessed. When the Commission produces historical arguments, those arguments should be evaluated on their historical merits. When it makes legal claims, those should be evaluated by reference to international law. When it makes economic claims, those should be subjected to economic scrutiny. The Commission’s political mandate does not give its outputs automatic authority in any of these domains.
