Portugal must “pay the costs” of colonial past, says president
Portugal’s President said that his country would have to “pay the costs” of slavery and its colonial past and has touted the need for reparations, The Guardian reported.
President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa made the remarks at an event on April 23 in what was a rare instance that a European head of state had acknowledged colonialism as well as pushing for reparations.
Portugal had the longest historical involvement in the slave trade. In the space of over four centuries, from 1444 to 1869, some 6 million Africans were kidnapped and forcibly transported across the Atlantic by Portuguese ships.
Although importing slaves became illegal in European Portugal in 1761, slave labour was only abolished within the African Portuguese colonies – which included Angola, Mozambique, Brazil, Cape Verde, East Timor as well as parts of India – in 1869.
“We have to pay the costs, are there actions that were not punished and those responsible were not arrested? Are there goods that were looted and not returned? Let’s see how we can repair this.” affirmed the Portuguese President.
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The remarks come after anti-racist campaigners ramped up pressure on the Portuguese government to call out the nation’s colonial-era crimes and just one year after Rebelo de Sousa said the country should apologise for its role in the transatlantic slave trade but ultimately gave little detail on the matter.
Commemorating the 49th anniversary of the end of authoritarian rule and during a meeting with Brazil’s firebrand President Lula da Silva on April 25, 2023, Rebelo De Sousa noted that the colonisation of Brazil, who gained their independence from Portugal in 1822, resulted in “the exploitation of Indigenous people, slavery, the sacrifice of the interests of Brazil and Brazilians.”
The United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk called for countries to take concrete steps on reparations for African people during a UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent (PFPAD) session on April 18.
Turk said: “On reparations, we must finally enter a new era, governments must step up to show true leadership with genuine commitments to move swiftly from words to action that will adequately address the wrongs of the past.”
The Guardian
