Historic Algeria declaration frames colonialism as multidimensional crime
African and Caribbean delegates in Algiers adopted the Algeria Declaration, defining colonialism as a multidimensional crime and tasking Algeria to lead a new diplomatic push for reparations and accountability.
Africa has launched its most assertive push yet for historical justice, as ministers, jurists, and diplomats convened in Algiers for a landmark conference on the criminalisation of colonialism.
The two-day meeting — the first major gathering since the African Union adopted a new reparations agenda earlier this year — concluded with what participants have called The Algeria Declaration, a sweeping communique framing colonialism as a multidimensional crime requiring global accountability.
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Endorsed by AU member states, CARICOM representatives, historians, and legal experts, the declaration presents the Algiers conference as "a significant political step" towards correcting historical injustices, restoring memory sovereignty, and advancing the AU's 2025 theme: "Justice for Africans and Peoples of African Descent through Reparations."
Drawing on decades of continental and international resolutions — from Abuja (1993) to Durban (2001), Accra (2023), and the AU's own recent Decision 903 — the text argues that slavery, displacement, and colonial domination constitute crimes against humanity and genocide.
While recognising that no compensation can truly undo centuries of exploitation, the declaration positions reparative justice as a duty owed to dignity, sovereignty, and the integrity of African historical memory.
It honours the sacrifices of anti-colonial movements across the continent and reaffirms the principles of African unity, freedom, and self-determination — ideals forged in the struggle against imperial rule.
The communique goes further, denouncing ongoing forms of external interference and noting that "a number of regions across the world remain under colonial control," explicitly expressing solidarity with Palestinians who face the atrocities of occupation on a daily basis."
Algeria, which has positioned itself as a champion of the reparations agenda under President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, will now lead the next phase — a diplomatic effort to translate moral claims into political traction.
Whether the global system is ready to revisit the colonial ledger, however, remains another question.
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