The Japan Times - UK PM 'open' to slavery apology but not reparations

Writing in The Guardian days before attending a Commonwealth leaders summit in the Caribbean, and as King Charles III tours the region, the British premier argued that "we need to face up to the past".

With London under pressure to formally apologise for its pivotal part in the trade and compensate Caribbean nations, he pledged to have "difficult conversations to safeguard the Commonwealth for the future".

Burnham said he wanted to "express my sorrow and regret for the pain and suffering of so many millions and to recognise the way it still shapes our world today", but insisted reparations were not "the right answer".

"I do not think that British people today can be held liable for historical wrongs, however heinous, that happened in a different age under different laws and in which they played no personal part," he wrote in the op-ed.

The transatlantic slave trade was a "brutal and barbaric violation" of enslaved people's rights, the UK leader added, offering a "structured dialogue with those affected".

"Listening to calls for a formal apology on behalf of the British state will form an important part of this process and I am open to them."

- 'Disappointing' -

The issue has loomed large over King Charles's ongoing nine-day visit to three Caribbean countries, which will include an address to the Commonwealth heads of government summit that runs from Sunday to Wednesday.

Burnham is also set to attend the gathering in St John's, the capital of Antigua and Barbuda.

The 56-member Commonwealth -- which Charles, 77, helms -- is mainly composed of British ex-colonies, with the UK's central role in slavery and the treatment of its former subjects long a contentious issue within the organisation.

In the Bahamas on Tuesday, the monarch acknowledged "the great suffering of the past" during the first leg of his visit.

Britain has never formally apologised for slavery or agreed to pay reparations.

The country profited for centuries from colonialism and the slave trade, but argues it also led the way in the latter's abolition.

In 1833, the UK parliament passed a law to abolish slavery in most of the British Empire.

Denis O'Brien, founder of The Repair Campaign, which advocates for reparations for slavery for Caribbean nations, said the UK government "must stop obfuscating and give a full and formal apology now".

"This would be a significant and symbolic first step towards reparatory justice," he added.

O'Brien called Burnham's op-ed "disappointing", predicting it will not "quell the demand for an apology".

S.Ogawa--JT