The United Nations has said Britain should erect more statues honouring people of African descent as part of "reparatory justice" for the transatlantic slave trade. New guidance from the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) argues that former slave-trading nations have an "obligation to repair" the harm caused, extending beyond financial compensation to broader societal change, including how public spaces and school curriculums address the legacy of slavery.

The guidance, drafted largely by CERD panellists Gay McDougall and Pela Boker-Wilson, calls for public spaces to "clearly acknowledge the wrongs" of those who profited from historical atrocities, alongside apologies, investigations and formal acknowledgements. It contrasts this approach with the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, during which demonstrators in Bristol toppled a statue of 17th-century slave trader Edward Colston. The report lands ahead of the King's planned fdautumn tour of the Caribbean, where royal links to the slave trade may face scrutiny, and follows a March push by African and Caribbean states, led by Ghana's president, for trillions of pounds in reparations from former colonial powers.