The African Union is set to hold a high-level panel on reparations and heritage restitution on Friday, February 13, at 3 p.m. local time in Addis Ababa, part of wider discussions around the continent’s 2025 focus on reparatory justice.
The event titled “Reparations, Memory and Sovereignty: Common African Position on the Restitution of Heritage Resources” is co-hosted by the African Union, the Ghana government and UNESCO. It aims to strengthen cooperation and negotiations on returning African cultural property taken during slavery and colonial periods.
Speakers expected to participate include Angola’s president (as AU chairperson), the president of Ghana — who champions reparations within the AU, the AU Commission chairperson, and UNESCO’s director-general.
Officials say the panel will focus on practical steps. That includes building political consensus behind the AU’s Common African Position on Restitution of Heritage Resources, highlighting tools that can help member states protect cultural heritage, and identifying pilot projects and technical cooperation frameworks to begin returning cultural property.
Discussion is also expected on how to involve youth and local communities through education and digital heritage efforts. Organisers have invited accredited media to cover the session’s opening and key highlights.
The session feeds into the AU’s broader agenda. The Union has designated 2025 the “Year of Justice for Africans and People of African Descent Through Reparations,” and is preparing for a Decade on justice and reparations running from 2026 to 2036. That framework seeks to keep momentum on issues ranging from cultural restitution to historical injustice.
The event at the AU headquarters will not produce binding legal outcomes, but officials hope it will sharpen the continent’s unified stance ahead of future bilateral and multilateral talks on restitution and reparations.