Title: Reparatory Justice and Institutional Accountability: An Open and Candid Dialogue with the Church of England on Historical Injustices. Date, time and time zone of side event: April 14
th, 15.00 EDT
Sponsoring organization(s) or entity/ies: Permanent Mission of Kenya to the United Nations in New York, Anglican Consultative Council, Permanent Mission of Barbados to the United Nations in New York (tbc)
Language(s) in which the side event will be held: English with Spanish and French interpretation
Description of the side event: a session to share and discuss diverse perspectives on reparatory justice in the context of institutions addressing historic links with African chattel enslavement, drawing from ongoing work through the Church of England. The Archbishop of York – the most senior clergy person in the Church of England – will speak alongside representatives of governments of peoples impacted by historic enslavement about the important journey of reparatory justice needed from institutions and the hoped-for future that could create. This event is an invitation for a greater variety of international perspectives to strengthen institutional responses across UN member states.
Location of the side event: UNHQ Conference Room4
Name and email address of the lead organizer (and permission to publish the lead organizer’s contact details): Martha Jarvis, martha.jarvis@anglicancommunion.org
Weblink for any further information: the Fund for Healing Justice and Repair |
The Anglican Communion |
Background: The Church Commissioners for England manage the historic endowment funds of the Church of England. Since 2019 they have been engaged in researching a historic investment in the South Sea Company, an organisation that transported enslaved Africans in horrifying conditions, and who were responsible for the deaths of thousands of individuals.
In January 2023, Church Commissioners for England released a research report which detailed shameful financial links between the endowment fund and African chattel enslavement.
As an initial response to the findings, the Church Commissioners pledged to:
- Invest in a better, fairer future that promotes human flourishing for historically marginalised and vulnerable groups, in particular communities impacted by historic African chattel enslavement creating a fairer future for all
- Inspire others to act
- Help deliver on the above by creating an in-perpetuity impact investment endowment fund that will grow over time, seeking to attract others to join or take similar investing action of their own so that the ultimate size of the fund endowment is materially larger and thereby seeks to make a lasting impact
The Church Commissioners’ Board allocated a sum of £100m to this response. They identified this sum knowing that no amount of money will ever be enough to repair the horrors of the past.
Critically, the Church Commissioners also committed to ensuring that the detailed stages of the response were designed by people with expert knowledge in understanding the legacy of African chattel enslavement, and the impact of this legacy on the world today. Accordingly, an independent Oversight Group was appointed, using an open and transparent process. The group was chaired by Bishop Rosemarie Mallett and has a diverse range of backgrounds and experiences, including from within descendant communities.
The Oversight Group made a set of recommendations which challenged the Church Commissioners to embark upon a meaningful process towards healing, repair, and justice, by addressing barriers to economic parity and quality of life for all who continue to be impacted by the legacy of African chattel enslavement.
The final report of their recommendations was published by the Oversight Group as an independent body in March 2024. Work is now underway to establish the new fund.
The Church of England, with humility, recognises that the current efforts to address these historic injustices are the beginning of a long, painful, and important process. The Church aims share its approach with the Forum and, in so doing, help shape the future work on institutional accountability and reparatory justice in a positive manner.
