AN international group of indigenous peoples from across the Commonwealth has called on King Charles III to apologise for a legacy of genocide and colonisation and “commence a process of reparatory justice”.
People from 12 of the 14 Commonwealth nations (only the Solomon Islands and Tuvalu are not represented) have sent a joint message to their shared head of state ahead of his coronation on May 6.
They are calling on the King to “substantiate the royal family’s recent expressions of sorrow and regret about its role in slavery, recognise British acts of genocide against indigenous peoples, begin a process of reparations, and return stolen artefacts and bodily remains”.
In April, the BBC reported a Buckingham Palace spokesperson as saying that Charles wanted to “deepen his understanding of slavery's impact with ‘vigour and determination’ since his accession”.
It came after the King, on a trip to Rwanda in 2022, said he could not describe "the depths of his personal sorrow" at the suffering caused by the slave trade.
People from 12 of the 14 Commonwealth nations – Antigua and Barbuda, Aotearoa (New Zealand), Australia, The Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, Papua New Guinea, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, and St Vincent and the Grenadines – are now calling on the monarch to “substantiate” those comments.
They have also laid down five steps they say he could take by way of reparations. These include:
- issuing a formal apology
- recognising British acts of genocide on indigenous peoples
- beginning a process of reparations for stolen wealth
- repatriating sacred artefacts and bodily remains of indigenous peoples still being held in British museums and institutions
- renouncing the ‘Doctrine of Discovery’. This concept, laid out in the 15th century by “papal bulls” from the Vatican, was used to justify global colonisation by European nations. In March 2023, the Vatican repudiated the doctrine.
Nova Peris, an indigenous Australian, Olympic gold medallist, former senator, and co-chair of the Australian Republican Movement, has started a petition for people around the globe to show their support to the calls.
The groups from across the Commonwealth will hold a press conference about their campaign on Friday.
Speaking to Canada's CBC earlier in the week, Charles's sister Princess Anne shrugged off the idea of the royals addressing their colonial past. "Who knows who came up with that idea," Anne said.
It comes after extensive polling in all the countries which have King Charles as head of state found that seven of them would vote to remove the monarchy in a referendum.
