President Mahama champions global reparatory justice; announces 3 international panels.

In a landmark move to transition the global reparatory justice movement from advocacy to action, President John Dramani Mahama has announced the establishment of three global panels.

Speaking at the opening session of the "Next Steps Consultative Conference" in Accra, President Mahama, the African Union (AU) Champion on Advancing the Cause of Justice and Reparations for Africans, unveiled a strategic framework to drive the next phase of the global justice agenda.

The three newly formed bodies are the Global Advisory Panel on Reparatory Justice, the Expert Panel on the Restitution of Cultural Artefacts, and the Global Legal Panel on Reparatory Justice.

Addressing a distinguished audience of world leaders and advocates, President Mahama said the core function of the panels is to provide the strategic, intellectual, and legal support needed to move the international community beyond symbolic gestures.

"Our objective is to lay foundations for a practical international roadmap that advances truth-telling, research, education, memorialization, restitution of cultural heritage, and legal pathways," the President stated.

He clarified that the panels are intended to complement, not replace, existing initiatives. "This will not replace programmes by individual countries or regional bodies but work to strengthen existing global frameworks."

The conference served as a powerful gathering of global influence, bringing together representatives from over 80 countries. Notable attendees included H.E. Bassirou Diomaye Faye, President of Senegal, H.E. Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, President of Namibia, H.E. Joseph Nyuma Boakai, Sr., President of Liberia, H.E. Carlos Vila Nova, President of São Tomé and Príncipe, The Hon. Mia Amor Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados, and H.E. Emmanuel Macron, President of France (via a video message).

The summit also featured high-level representation from the United Nations, the African Union, UNESCO, UNDP, the CARICOM Reparations Commission, and various civil society organisations.

The initiative builds upon the landmark United Nations Resolution (A/RES/80/2500), which formally declared the trafficking of enslaved Africans and racialised chattel enslavement as the "gravest crime against humanity."

President Mahama noted that the panels would utilise the CARICOM 10-Point Plan as a foundational blueprint for their work.

For Ghana, this mission is deeply personal. Referring to the visible scars of history at Elmina, Cape Coast, Assin Manso, and Osu, he remarked: "Ghana's land holds visible reminders of a system that uprooted millions. Today, the descendants of those journeys have returned-not in chains, but as presidents, prime ministers, scholars, jurists, activists, and citizens of the world."

Concluding his address, President Mahama reaffirmed Ghana's commitment to a process grounded in peace and reconciliation.

"We do not seek to reopen old wounds. We seek to heal those wounds," the President affirmed. "We do not seek division. We seek justice, understanding, and reconciliation grounded in truth."