By Rachel Quartey and Rukayatu Musah
Ghana will host a high-level global conference on reparatory justice from June 18–19, 2026, marking the next phase of its international advocacy following a landmark victory at the United Nations.
Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, announced the initiative during a working visit by Vice President Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang to the Ministry in Accra.
The conference follows the adoption of United Nations General Assembly Resolution 250, which the Minister described as a “collective victory” achieved through unity, strategic diplomacy, and intellectual collaboration.
From Resolution to Action
Mr. Ablakwa said the June conference will bring together Heads of State, Foreign Ministers, global experts, and key institutions including UNESCO, the Congressional Black Caucus, and the NAACP.
The goal, he explained, is to develop a unified global framework on reparatory justice.
“Now that we have the UN resolution, where do we go from here? We want to come together for the first time in the history of this struggle… and have one common blueprint,” he said.
According to the Minister, the outcome of the Accra conference will be presented at a side event in New York during the next session of the United Nations General Assembly.
“From the Caribbean to the Americas to the continent — one blueprint, one voice,” he added.
Mr. Ablakwa also acknowledged the scholarly contributions of Vice President Opoku-Agyemang, noting that her research on the trans-Atlantic slave trade helped shape Ghana’s global advocacy.
Vice President Calls for Link Between Diplomacy and Trade
In her remarks, Vice President Opoku-Agyemang welcomed the initiative but stressed the need to align diplomacy with economic growth, particularly under the African Continental Free Trade Area.
She urged Ghana’s foreign missions to actively promote Ghanaian businesses abroad.
“Trade is also an important part of your responsibility… How do you promote this through all the agencies and directories that you have?” she asked. She further questioned whether Ghana is gaining equitable benefits from its long-standing diplomatic relationships.
“How many Ghanaian businesses do we have in those countries?” she queried.
Reforms to Improve Public Services
The Vice President also commended ongoing reforms at the Ministry, including the decentralisation of passport services, rollout of e-visa systems, and expedited one-day passport processing.
She noted that taking passport services to the regions significantly reduces the burden on citizens.
“It may seem like a small thing… but it’s a big thing. People travel long distances and struggle with accommodation. We must reduce the frustrations we create for our own people,” she said.
Positioning Ghana at the Center of Global Advocacy
The June conference is expected to position Ghana at the forefront of global efforts to advance reparatory justice beyond policy adoption to concrete action. With Accra set to host global stakeholders, the country aims to lead the push for a unified international roadmap, transforming momentum from the UN resolution into a coordinated global strategy.
One Response
I would like to participate in the upcoming conference on ‘Global Reparatory Justice’, scheduled for June 18-19, 2026.
My area of research is on the ‘Black Atlantic Abolitionists Case, Reparations, ‘Intertemporal Law’, and the Call for Universal Justice, 1684-1826. I have been researching this field for more than 15 years. I have shown that studies of African people’s involvement in the abolition of slavery is often confined to cases of shipboard revolts, maroon communities and individual fugitives from slavery. In my monograpgh published by Cambridge University Press, 2022, I examined the highly-organised, international legal case for ending slavery in the seventeenth century, headed by the Angolan nobleman Lourenço da Silva Mendonça. I am now examining the Vatican’s 1686 verdict on the case and new evidence that has come to light since the publication of my book, “Lourenço da Silva Mendonça and the Black Atlantic Abolitionist Movement in the Seventeenth Century.” I argued that a movement for the abolition of slavery led by an African abolitionist, in solidarity with other marginalised groups (Africans and Indigious people of America), predates European abolitionism. The book sets out how the court case that Mendonça presented to the Vatican in 1684, the breadth of the evidence gathered and presented, and the astounding multiple legal bases for the conviction, are undeniable. The verdict declared the Atlantic slave trade unlawful and issued a decree for the abolition of the enslavement of people of African descent in Spain, Portugal, Brazil, as well as constituencies of New Christians and Native Americans. I show that in his address to the Vatican, Mendonça questioned the institution of Atlantic slavery by drawing on four core legal authorities to bolster his argument: the Human, the Natural, the Divine, and the Civil. Based on this new evidence, I argue that ‘Intertemporal law’, that is, the rationale that slavery (and the slave trade) was legal when practised in colonial territories including those of Spanish, Portuguese, French, English, Danish and Dutch in Africa, Asia and the Americas, thus, is a falsification. The findings are therefore a corrective to the ‘intertemporal principle’ under international law regarding slavery and the notion that slavery’s legitimacy could be justified under regional European law.
Could you please let me know how I can participate in this interesting conference?