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The Centre for Reparations Research (CRR) at The University of the West Indies (The UWI) has launched an International Reparation Debate Competition to engage secondary schools regionally and internationally in reparatory justice discussions.
The competition begins officially on Friday, March 10 and runs until April 2025. The debates will be streamed live on the CRR’s YouTube channel.
Twenty-four schools from the Bahamas, Curaçao, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United Kingdom are among the first participants in this competition.
Engaging secondary-level students in structured debates will enhance their historical understanding and stimulate meaningful conversations within families, communities, schools, and the broader public discourse.
Can you apologise for a wrongful act by an ancestor? Should reparations be paid to governments? How do we engage youth on matters of reparatory justice? These and more are questions that the CRR is tackling as it strategically engages the next generation.
Most importantly, the debating competition will seek to achieve a critical facet of the CRR’s strategic plan to mainstream reparation from street to stage.
With support from Caribbean governments and expanding allies in the Global North, this intervention is broad-based. It will use debate as a strategy for reparatory justice education and outreach.
As debates on reparatory justice for peoples of African descent sway from conservative to liberal in orientation, there is a need for strategic intervention.
The international debate has thus far centred on economic aspects, with former colonisers such as Britain advancing anti-justice sentiments and ultimately resisting repair in the form of apologies or compensation.
The CRR is pleased to have partners and collaborators, including the CARICOM Reparation Commission, The Repair Campaign, Jamaica Association for Debating and Empowerment, The UWI Press, PJ Patterson Institute for Africa-Caribbean Advocacy, the Wilberforce Institute – UK, among others.
Through this competition, the CRR will harness youth’s intellectual and communicative capabilities to address pivotal issues of reparation and Pan-Africanism.
By fostering an environment of rigorous debate and informed discourse, the competition will promote historical awareness and contribute to meaningful advocacy for African-descended communities in the Caribbean and the United Kingdom.
The complete list of competing schools are as follows:
BAHAMAS
CV Bethel Senior High school
Club Bethel
GUAYANA
Queen’s College
JAMAICA
Machester High School
Glenmuir Hight School
Campion College Jamaica
York castle High School
Hampton School
Bishop Gibson High School for Girls
Montego Bay High
Jonathan Grant High
Holy Childhood High School
Maggoty High School
Clarendon College
deCarteret College
SURINAME
Kolegio Prof Dr Alejandro Paula
TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
St Joseph’s Convent Port of Spain
Presentation College Chaguanas
Bishop’s High School Tobago
San Fernando East Secondary school
Barrackpore West Secondary School
Arima North Secondary
Pleasantville Secondary School
UNITED KINGDOM
Rawlins Academy
For inquiries or further information about the competition and launch, please contact the Centre for Reparations Research at [email protected].
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Great initiative! This will spark important discussions on reparations.
Debate is good, but when will we see real progress on reparations?
Will these debates lead to action, or is this just academic talk?
Hope this competition includes diverse perspectives on the reparations issue.
Will policymakers actually listen to the arguments being made?
Looking forward to seeing the perspectives young debaters bring to the table!
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