Against the backdrop of Antigua and Barbuda’s preparations to welcome hundreds of Commonwealth leaders for the 2026 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), The University of the West Indies (The UWI) Five Islands Campus has been named the official host of the first global activation of the groundbreaking Global Reparations Caravan, a public-facing initiative designed to galvanize widespread support and awareness for reparatory justice worldwide.
Timed to align seamlessly with the 2026 CHOGM, which operates under the official theme “Accelerating Partnerships and Investment for a Prosperous Commonwealth,” the caravan’s Antigua and Barbuda launch lands at a pivotal historical moment: demands for formal reparations for the intergenerational harms of transatlantic chattel slavery and centuries of colonial exploitation have surged across the Caribbean and gained growing traction in global diplomatic and civic spaces. This movement has been shepherded for decades by regional leaders and institutions, most notably Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, UWI Vice-Chancellor and Chair of the CARICOM Reparations Commission, whose decades of evidence-based advocacy have lifted public and policy recognition of the cascading, enduring impacts of colonial exploitation on communities of African descent across the Caribbean and Global Africa.
“At a moment when the entire Commonwealth’s leadership converges on Caribbean soil, it is entirely fitting that the clarion call for reparatory justice should emanate from a UWI campus,” Vice-Chancellor Beckles emphasized. “Reparations are not acts of charity—they are targeted, long-overdue investments in collective justice, equitable regional development, and a shared, more prosperous future for all Commonwealth nations. The Global Reparations Caravan carries this critical message far beyond closed diplomatic meeting halls, directly into local neighbourhoods and community spaces, and The UWI is immensely proud to serve as the foundational home for that inclusive, public-facing dialogue.”
Professor C. Justin Robinson, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal of The UWI Five Islands Campus, expanded on the significance of hosting the initiative on Antiguan land: “When Commonwealth leaders gather here in Antigua and Barbuda, they are convening on ground that shares a long, intertwined colonial history with all member states of the Commonwealth. The Caravan invites our student body and the broader public to engage that shared history with rigorous academic evidence, creative imagination, and clear, purpose-driven action—and that is exactly the core public mission a leading regional university exists to fulfill.”
Billed as the world’s first travelling global reparations festival, the Global Reparations Caravan is structured to weave disparate local and national reparations advocacy efforts into a cohesive, unified global movement. Its programming leverages three core pillars: accessible public education, vibrant cultural expression, and structured civic engagement, all designed to demystify reparatory justice for everyday people and build broad, grassroots support for formal redress policies. The Antigua and Barbuda activation will culminate in a free, open-air Concert for Reparations, a cultural showcase that centers the unifying power of music and creative expression to deepen public awareness, foster constructive cross-community dialogue, and mobilize collective action across the island.
As the official host and institutional partner, The UWI brings more than 75 years of accumulated scholarship, targeted advocacy, and public education expertise on reparatory justice to the caravan initiative. Through its specialized Centre for Reparation Research, and under the longstanding leadership of Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, the regional university has spent decades shaping evidence-led, policy-focused conversations on historical justice, equitable development, and formal reparatory frameworks across the Caribbean and around the world.
Professor Sonjah Stanley Niaah, Director of The UWI’s Centre for Reparation Research, outlined the long-term educational goals of the Antigua and Barbuda activation: “The Reparations Caravan will generate a sustained wave of public awareness that resonates deeply with both our student population and ordinary citizens across the island. Our core goal is to normalize reparatory justice education as a standard, integrated part of public life, and embed these principles firmly in the collective consciousness of Caribbean citizens, and by extension, communities across Global Africa. This initiative builds directly on our growing portfolio of flagship reparations programming, including the International Reparation Debate Competition that the Centre first launched to widespread acclaim in 2025.”
With global media and diplomatic attention set to center on Antigua and Barbuda during the 2026 CHOGM summit, The UWI Five Islands Campus is positioned to serve as a high-profile, respected platform for centering Caribbean perspectives on historical justice, inclusive development, and shared cross-Commonwealth prosperity. By hosting the Global Reparations Caravan, the university is upholding its longstanding institutional commitment to advancing meaningful, inclusive public dialogue on the defining issues that shape the future of the Caribbean region and its people.
Media representatives, students, academic researchers, and local community stakeholders who wish to learn more about the Global Reparations Caravan or register to participate in its full slate of Antigua and Barbuda activities are invited to contact Jasmine Mickens, Director of the Global Africa Reparations and Restitution Fund. The initiative is supported by TrustAfrica, a pan-African philanthropic organization based in Dakar, Senegal, that has spent years advancing the global reparations movement for Africans and people of African descent.
Founded in 1948 as a small University College of London affiliate in Jamaica with just 33 enrolled medical students, The UWI has grown over 75 years into an internationally recognized leading global university serving nearly 50,000 students across five distinct campuses: Mona in Jamaica, St. Augustine in Trinidad and Tobago, Cave Hill in Barbados, Five Islands in Antigua and Barbuda, and its fully digital Global Campus, alongside formal international partnership centers with peer institutions across North America, Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe. The university offers more than 1,000 certificate, diploma, undergraduate, and postgraduate pathways across fields including creative and performing arts, agriculture, engineering, humanities, education, law, medical sciences, technology, social sciences, and sport. As the Caribbean’s preeminent higher education institution, it hosts the region’s largest concentration of specialized academic expertise, all dedicated to solving the most pressing shared challenges facing the Caribbean and the wider global community. Validated by consistent inclusion in the Times Higher Education global rankings since 2018, The UWI remains the only English-speaking Caribbean institution to be featured across four of the organization’s prestigious ranking lists: the flagship World University Rankings, the Golden Age University Rankings for institutions established 50 to 80 years prior, the Latin America and Caribbean University Rankings, and the SDG-focused Impact Rankings, which measure institutional contributions to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This global recognition has also spurred the launch of The UWI’s International School for Development Justice (ISDJ), a fully online global graduate business school designed to train the next generation of global leaders to advance equitable, sustainable development worldwide.