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King Charles III is set to face demands to pay $260 billion in compensation for Britain's role in the transatlantic slave trade. The British monarch will attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government summit later this week. The annual meeting brings together leaders of 56 member states that were once territories or colonies of the former British Empire. Fifteen Caribbean nations have unanimously agreed to raise the issue of slave trade reparations at the summit. Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley said the U.K. needed to atone for its past atrocities. U.N. judge Patrick Robinson puts the realistic amount of reparations for damage done by Britain during the slave trade at $25 trillion.
U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy has spoken of how his ancestors heard "twisted lies of imperialism as they were…turned into slaves". His ancestors were enslaved. In 2018, he tweeted: "As Caribbean people, we are not going to forget our history. We don't just want to hear an apology. We want reparations." Conversely, Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, a possible future chairman of the U.K. Conservative Party, suggested Commonwealth countries should pay the U.K. for its role in abolishing slavery. He tweeted: "They ought to pay us for ending slavery. It is not something any other country had done, and we were motivated by Christian charity." The U.K. recently stated there would be no financial redress.
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