Representatives of a diverse array of African and Caribbean organizations met in the Barbados capital Bridgetown as part of a Reparations and Racial Healing Study Tour focused on advocating for reparations for slavery, the UWI statement said.
The meeting in Barbados included strategy sessions, knowledge-sharing dialogues, plenaries, and "critical reflection on addressing harms suffered within Africa and throughout the Diaspora," the university stressed.
"The study tour also significantly marks the beginning of an intercontinental campaign process advocating for reparations and healing on both the African and global stages," the statement said.
Participants comprised ambassadors and representatives of AU member countries and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) political and economic union.
According to David Comissiong, Barbados' Ambassador to the Caribbean Community, reparations are seen as a right to development, after European countries advanced at the cost of the "underdevelopment" of African and Caribbean countries.
"We see reparations in terms of the right to development [..] European countries develop themselves at the expense of the systematic underdevelopment of countries like Barbados, the Caribbean territories and the continent of Africa," Comissiong told Qatari media.
For his part, the African Union's official Youssouf Mandoha noted the crucial role of the summit to "recognize how slavery, colonialism and racism intersect and impact the lives of Black people around the world."
The event was also joined by Hilary Beckles, Chair of the CARICOM Reparations Commission, who, as the UWI noted in a statement, is an internationally recognized leader in the global reparations movement.
Last June, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley publicly called for Europe to pay reparations to enslaved countries.