Jamaica has secured a hearing date before the UK Privy Council to advance its petition seeking legal guidance on slavery reparations claims against Britain. Culture Minister Olivia Grange confirmed that the London-based court has provisionally scheduled the hearing for the week of 8 March, 2027. The UK government has been granted until November of this year to submit its formal response to the petition.
The Jamaican delegation, led by Grange, filed the petition with King Charles earlier, and the monarch subsequently referred the matter to the privy council in September. The petition seeks clarification on three specific legal questions: whether the forced transport of Africans to Jamaica was lawful under international law, whether such actions constituted crimes against humanity, and whether Britain has a legal obligation to provide restitution for slavery and its lasting effects on Jamaican society.
Jamaica employed a rarely invoked provision from the Judicial Committee Act 1833 to bring the matter before the privy council. This mechanism permits the reigning monarch to refer questions of legal or constitutional significance to the court when they cannot be resolved through standard judicial channels. Grange characterized the king’s decision to refer the case as significant, noting that King Charles had the discretion to decline or delay the referral.
Government officials indicated that pursuing the matter through the International Court of Justice was not viable due to legal restrictions. The UK has filed specific reservations regarding the ICJ’s compulsory jurisdiction that shield it from adjudication of disputes with Commonwealth nations or former Commonwealth members. Meanwhile, UK government representatives have consistently maintained the position that Britain does not intend to provide monetary reparations for historical slavery.
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