28–30 January 2026 | Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Solbosch Campus
At the HERICOL Conference (external link), our Executive Director, Liliane Umubyeyi (external link), served as the keynote discussant for Guggenheim Fellow and Howard University Professor - Ana Lucia Araujo (external link) on her book, Reparations for Slavery and the Slave Trade.
Ana Lucia places demands for reparations within a long historical trajectory and show that, contrary to what one might think, this has not been a story of linear progress or a peaceful path. In reality, it has been a difficult process marked by advances and setbacks.
So even if we face obstacles today, the road we have already travelled is a long one. It is a path marked by repression by states, divisions within racialized communities, and silencing by certain actors working in the field of human rights. It is a struggle that has survived far greater obstacles and has nonetheless reached where it stands today.
But despite these obstacles, men and women have been creative and resilient, finding opportunities to ensure that this struggle for justice continues and is passed on to us. It is in this context that we must understand the current fight for reparations: we must strengthen the foundations, in particular, the collective mobilization of Africans and Afro-diasporic communities and their allies to call for reparations.