Jamaica says slavery reparations petition to be heard by UK privy council in March 2027

A high-level United Kingdom appeals court has set a date to hear Jamaica’s petition for legal advice on its claim for slavery reparations from the UK, the Jamaican government has said.

Olivia Grange, Jamaica’s minister of culture, confirmed in a statement that a hearing had been provisionally set for the week of 8 March, 2027 by the London-based privy council, the final court of appeal for UK overseas territories and some Commonwealth countries.

The statement added that the UK had until November this year to file its case.

Last month, Grange led a Jamaican delegation to London to file the petition with King Charles, Jamaica’s head of state. It seeks guidance on three questions: whether the forced transport of Africans to Jamaica was lawful; whether it constituted a crime against humanity; and whether Britain is under an obligation to provide restitution for slavery and its enduring consequences.

On 23 September, Grange announced in Jamaica’s parliament that King Charles had referred the matter to the privy council. Describing the referral as a “big deal”, she told parliament: “The king could have ignored us. The king could have delayed responding to us. The king could have made a decision not to refer the questions to the privy council, or he could make a decision to refer the questions.”

Jamaica had activated a rarely used mechanism in the Judicial Committee Act 1833, which allows the monarch to refer questions of “legal or constitutional nature” to the privy council when they cannot be resolved through ordinary courts, according to the country’s legal counsels.

The minister said that taking the matter to the international court of justice (ICJ) was not an option for Jamaica because the UK had placed specific reservations on the compulsory jurisdiction of the ICJ that prevent the court from adjudicating on disputes between the UK and the government of any other country which is or has been a member of the Commonwealth.