Africa Day 2025: a call for justice and reparations for people of African descent

Each year on May 25, Africa Day commemorates the founding of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the forerunner of today’s African Union (AU). In 2025, this commemoration takes on special significance under the AU’s newly declared theme of the year: “Justice for Africans and people of African descent through reparations.”

The them of this Year is Justice for Africans and people of African descent through reparations.

This theme is more than a slogan, it is a declaration of intent to confront the lingering legacy of slavery, colonialism, apartheid, and racial oppression.

The AU’s 2025 theme signals a pivotal moment in a decades-long struggle for reparatory justice. Since 1963, African leaders and institutions have championed justice for historic crimes committed against African peoples.

From the trans-Atlantic slave trade to colonial exploitation and systemic racism, the suffering of millions has long gone unaddressed.

The 1993 Abuja Proclamation, issued after the First Pan-African Conference on Reparations, was a landmark in this fight. It asserted that a moral and legal debt is owed to Africa and its diaspora, one that demands redress, not only in monetary terms but through restoration of dignity and historical memory.

Recent years have seen this movement gather momentum. In 2001, the AU joined global actors at the World Conference Against Racism, resulting in the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action. This laid the groundwork for new international conversations on justice and reparations. More recently, the 2022 Accra Declaration and the 2023 Accra Reparations Conference brought together African and diaspora stakeholders to develop concrete strategies for action.

Under the 2025 theme, the AU is transforming this vision into structured policy and practice. Key objectives include establishing an African Committee of Experts on Reparations, launching an African Reparations Fund, and promoting regional and global partnerships, particularly with Caribbean nations under the CARICOM Reparations Commission.

These efforts seek to create a unified African position on reparations, anchoring them not in historical grievance alone, but in forward-looking development policy.

The theme also emphasizes education, research, and cultural restitution. The AU plans to establish knowledge centers, training programs, and summer schools focused on reparations and racial healing. A framework for the return of looted cultural property is also underway, as part of a broader campaign to reclaim African heritage.

In her speech during this year celebration, Rita Bissoonauth, Director, UNESCO announced a roundtable planned in a few months, on the theme : « Reparations, Memory and Sovereignty : African Liberation Movements and the Relevance of Pan-Africanism Today ». She quoted Thomas Sankara, in saying « You cannot carry out fundamental change without a certain amount of madness. It takes the courage to invent the future. »

Reparations are not simply about correcting past wrongs; they are about affirming the humanity, history, and future of Africans and people of African descent worldwide.