00:00A United Nations Committee has called on countries to consider comprehensive reparations for people of African descent,
00:07saying the legacy of the transatlantic slave trade continues to fuel racial discrimination and structural inequality.
00:14The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination says governments should go beyond apologies,
00:19introducing measures including compensation, restitution, rehabilitation and reforms to laws and institutions.
00:26The Committee says these obligations stem from current international commitments,
00:31regardless of whether slavery was prohibited under the laws of the time.
00:35At least 12.5 million Africans were possibly taken and sold between the 15th and 19th centuries,
00:41in what the Committee described as the largest forced displacement in history.
00:45The experts also urged companies, banks, universities and religious institutions that benefited from the trade
00:52to acknowledge their historical role and contribute to reparations.
