UN CERD Frames Reparations as a Present Legal Obligation

General Recommendation 40 and CERD's August 31 statement describe reparations for slavery and the slave trade as a contemporary obligation under the 1965 convention and reject intertemporality defenses. The nonbinding guidance endorses monetary, structural, restorative, truth-seeking, educational, archival, and memorial remedies across 182 states; its interaction with proposed Caribbean litigation remains a significant legal question.