Progress been made on reparatory justice agenda, Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has said. The Minister for Foreign Affairs has been giving an overview of Ghana’s participation in the 81st UNGA in New York, as well talking about the significant progress been made since the passing of the landmark UN Resolution declaring the transatlantic slave trade as the greatest crime against humanity. This was in an exclusive interview on Key Points, a Saturday morning TV3 Talk Show on 10th October, 2026.
On overall assessment, the Minister said Ghana represented the continent very well at the 81st UNGA and represented the global south with distinction. He said reviews from pundits and experts in international relations across the world have hailed Ghana’s participation. Right from strategic engagements with Boeing and Amazon, railway development, AI governance, agriculture, agri-business and trade expansion, Ghana has been strategic, leading to the side events organized on Reparatory Justice co-hosted by Ghana, Germany and France.
On the side event on Reparatory Justice, Hon. Ablakwa said for the first time since the Ghana-led landmark resolution which the UN, by a massive vote of 123 UN Member States voting to support the Ghana-led resolution which declared the Transatlantic Slave Trade as the greatest crime against humanity, many Africans and people of African descent have been working towards this day for decades. He said it took the visionary leadership of H.E John Dramani Mahama, as the African Union Champion for Reparatory Justice to table this resolution. He revealed a formidable coalition has been put together, and virtually all European States, except Portugal and Spain who initially abstained, were at the side event pledging support on restitution and presenting catalogues of artefacts, important objects of cultural heritage to be returned. Interestingly, the United States of America also attended the side event, which he described as a seismic shift.
When asked when gains will kick in, the Minister said the landmark UN Resolution itself is consequential and Ghana is at a defining moment. He said gains are already showing. France, President Macron has apologized and repealed Code Noir, the obnoxious legislation which described Africans as property and chattel, and announced a scientific commission with Ghana in Accra for further research. Denmark has apologized and pledged resources to preserve forts and castles at Keta, Shama and Ewutu Senya for truth-telling, commending UNESCO and successive governments. Pope Leo XIV has apologized for the Catholic Church’s role through the Papal bull which gave doctrinal base for slavery, and the Archbishop of Canterbury has apologized on behalf of Church of England and pledged a 100-million-pound fund for young African entrepreneurs and scholars. The UK has also signaled engagement in New York.
The Dutch and Germans have also presented a catalogue of more than 2,000 artefacts ready to be returned, with the Dutch already returning the head of King Badu II who resisted enslavers with vision and dexterity in warfare before his assassination, his head cut off for study. Ablakwa said this confirms resistance by traditional leaders and capability of Africans in science, archaeology and warfare, an important symbol to motivate youth. He announced three global panels now established: President Mahama chairing the Panel on Reparatory Justice, the Panel on Restitution chaired by Prof. Gavua, and the Panel of international legal luminaries looking at legal basis to compel perpetrators to atone and compensate, with initial reports showing legal advances. He commended Jamaica for petition to the Privy Council ahead of Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Antigua and Barbuda, saying a lot of progress has been made since the adoption of the landmark Ghana-led UN resolution.
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