Top United Nations Human Rights official points to reparations as the 'key to dismantling systemic racism'

A top United Nations (UN) official on Tuesday pointed to reparations as the "key to dismantling systemic racism."

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, applauded reparations efforts across the world while speaking at the fifth session of the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent. 

The efforts that Türk lauded during his speech were "anti-discrimination laws, the creation of independent human rights and equality institutions and steps towards reparations."

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Highlighting the "daily discrimination" people of African descent are facing in the workplace, hospitals, classrooms, and interactions with law enforcement, Türk claimed that the situations are "the direct legacy of colonialism and enslavement."

Türk called on Member States to take action, claiming that "Racism and dehumanising rhetoric" persists. Member States were asked to adopt "anti-racism laws, policies, and practices" to create more inclusive societies. The official reportedly also called on young people of African descent and members of civil society to "be included at all levels of decision-making and that "momentum towards reparatory justice should be maintained."

Türk’s comments came after the UN adopted a resolution declaring the transatlantic slave trade the gravest crime against humanity and for member states to pursue reparations to rectify "historical wrongs"

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"The slave trade and slavery stand among the gravest violations of human rights in human history – an affront to the very principles enshrined in the Charter of our United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, themselves born, in part, from these injustices of the past," Assembly President Annalena Baerbock said. 

The implementation of reparations has been a growing trend in the United States, spanning from the east to west coast.

Evanston, Illinois was the first local municipality to pass a reparations plan and then issue direct cash payments of $25,000 to local residents to address past racial housing discrimination.

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Not too far from Evanston, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is gearing up to issue reparations in some form after launching a community engagement effort called "Repair Chicago" to gather experiences of harm of Black residents. On the state level, the Illinois state commission is looking to implement reparations for Black residents after releasing a report that lays out what it called the state's history of harms against them in March.

Despite efforts to issue reparations, some of these programs are facing obstacles due to budgetary or legal pressures.