Caribbean nations are preparing to pursue a potential legal case against the UK for slavery reparations, with the issue set to be raised at the Commonwealth summit in November. Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley is hosting a conference this week to discuss obtaining compensation and has suggested legal action through international courts as an option, marking a significant escalation after the UK has consistently refused reparations demands.

The proposed legal strategy would involve bringing a case to the International Court of Justice, arguing that Britain is breaching the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Mottley has appointed a "technical committee" to gather economic evidence of harm done to Barbados to support any legal claim, and has suggested that reparations could be paid over generations in various forms, including development aid and healthcare support rather than direct cash payments. Britain abolished slavery in 1834, decades before the United States, but has maintained a firm position that it will not pay reparations, though it acknowledges the strength of feeling on the issue.