The World Conference on Reparations to Africa and Africans in the Diaspora, Lagos Nigeria 1990

The World Conference on Reparations to Africa and Africans in the Diaspora, Lagos Nigeria 1990

Although the Abuja Conference and its Proclamation is better known and commemorated, the event which facilitated it was the World Conference on Reparations to Africa and Africans in the Diaspora. Like the Abuja Conference, it was held in Nigeria and hosted by Chief M.K.O Abiola, in December 1990, and Bernie Grant was in attendance. One of the most significant outcomes of it was the creation of the Group of Eminent Persons (GEP), and the Commission on Reparations, two instrumental steps which bolstered the Reparations movement in the early 1990s. As outlined in its report, the World Conference discussed the following themes:

Historical, legal and moral grounds for demanding reparations

The nature and extent of the damage and destruction caused by the trilogy of slave trade, colonialism, and neo-colonialism

The consequences of the trilogy

The need, and justification and precedence for reparations

The obstacles to be surmounted

The modalities for effecting reparations