A high-level United Kingdom appeals court has set a date to hear Jamaica’s petition for legal advice regarding its claim for slavery reparations from the UK, according to the Jamaican government.
Olivia Grange, Jamaica’s minister of culture, confirmed that the London-based Privy Council, which serves as the final court of appeal for UK overseas territories and some Commonwealth countries, has provisionally scheduled a hearing for the week of 8 March 2027. The UK has until November this year to file its case.
Last month, Minister Grange led a Jamaican delegation to London to file the petition with King Charles, Jamaica’s head of state. The petition seeks guidance on three questions: whether the forced transport of Africans to Jamaica was lawful; whether it constituted a crime against humanity; and whether Britain is under an obligation to provide restitution for slavery and its enduring consequences.
On 23 September, Minister Grange announced in Jamaica’s parliament that King Charles had referred the matter to the Privy Council. Jamaica activated a rarely used mechanism in the Judicial Committee Act 1833, which allows the monarch to refer questions of a “legal or constitutional nature” to the Privy Council when they cannot be resolved through ordinary courts.
A spokesperson for Andy Burnham reiterated earlier this month that the government’s long-held position is that “the UK does not and will not pay reparations.”