News Desk
KARACHI: Algeria hosted the International Conference on the Crimes of Colonialism in Africa on 30 November and 1 December 2025, a landmark continental event organized in line with the African Union Assembly Decision 903(XXXVIII) adopted earlier that year.
The decision had endorsed the offer made by Algeria’s President, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, to convene a conference dedicated to the African Union Theme of the Year 2025: “Justice for Africans and People of African Descent through Reparations,” according to a press statement issued by the Algerian Embassy in Karachi.
The initiative drew on Algeria’s historic legacy as a nation that had paid a heavy price under colonial rule and remained committed to defending the dignity, memory, and rights of African peoples. Under President Tebboune’s leadership, Algeria sought to strengthen collective reflection and action aimed at criminalizing colonialism, slavery, racial segregation, and apartheid as crimes against humanity, in line with African Union recommendations.
The conference brought together ministers, jurists, historians, academics, and experts from Africa, the Caribbean, and beyond, with the aim of consolidating a unified African position on historical justice, reparations, restitution of cultural heritage, and the preservation of collective memory.
Deliberations explored the human, cultural, economic, environmental, and legal dimensions of colonial crimes, with particular attention to intergenerational trauma, the destruction and spoliation of African cultural heritage, exploitation of resources, and the inequitable economic structures inherited from colonial rule.
Participants also examined the environmental consequences of colonial actions, including nuclear testing conducted on African populations, and explored legal pathways to strengthen the criminalization of colonialism while establishing a permanent African mechanism for reparations and restitution.
As host, Algeria sought to provide a high-level platform to advance international recognition of colonial crimes and promote practical measures for reparative action. A key outcome of the conference was the adoption of the “Algiers Declaration,” designed to serve as a continental reference for codifying colonial crimes, acknowledging their impacts, and outlining an African strategy for justice and reparations.
The declaration was set to be submitted to the African Union Summit in February 2026 for consideration and endorsement. Through this initiative, Algeria reaffirmed its central role on the continent, supporting African aspirations for justice, reparations, preservation of historical memory, and the consolidation of a shared identity grounded in dignity and the values of justice.
