Reparations Commission Chairman Sir Hilary Beckles has made a direct, personal appeal to King Charles III, ahead of the monarch’s visit to the Region and the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Antigua and Barbuda.

Speaking at a media briefing on Thursday, Sir Hilary said he was addressing the King not in his role as Head of the Commonwealth, nor as constitutional monarch.

“I’m appealing to Charles Windsor, a parent, a grandparent, a man today who reflects upon the history of his family,” he said, adding, “we’re calling upon the King as a man, as a human brother, to provide leadership to this organisation over which he presides, the Commonwealth.”

“The Commonwealth historically was the site of this crime (chattel enslavement). …The Commonwealth can become a moral institution committed to human justice, and this is what we are calling for in CARICOM, in the African Union, all of us who are committed to this process for reparatory justice for the people who have suffered the gravest crime in the modern world.”

The appeal was taken up by Eric Phillips of the Guyana Reparations Committee. “The King is a decent monarch based on his lifelong commitments to the world in which the environment for him is sacred. We Africans are also part of that sacred environment.”

This article was originally published by Antigua News Room. Read the original article here: Sir Hilary Beckles urges King Charles to lead on reparatory justice ahead of Antigua and Barbuda summit.