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  • 2016-09-28 (xsd:date)
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  • UN Demands U.S. Pay Reparations for Slavery (en)
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  • On 28 September 2016, a number of blogs and social media posts reported that the United Nations (UN) had ordered or demanded the United States pay reparations for slavery to black Americans: The rumor took off in part because of misleading headlines and also due to the hot-button nature of the concept of reparations on social media and in political discourse. Many readers simply spotted and shared headlines asserting the UN demanded or ordered the U.S. to pay reparations, even though such claims was dialed back in underlying article text: Most versions of the claim cited a Washington Post article, itself somewhat misleadingly headlined U.S. Owes Black People Reparations for a History of ‘Racial Terrorism,’ Says U.N. Panel. Most Americans interpret the concept of slavery reparations to specifically entail monies disbursed to black Americans as remuneration for the effects of slavery, but (again buried at the end of the piece) the excerpted material from a recent report by a U.N.-affiliated group based in Geneva described something different entirely: The Post also noted that the controversial notion was a recommendation issued by a U.N. panel to a U.N. council, not something directly decreed by the United Nations as a mandate involving the U.S.: In the 18 August 2016 report [PDF] tendered to the UN's Human Rights Council by the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, the concept of reparations made four appearances amid pages of findings and recommendations. In a section titled Conclusions and recommendations, the working group concluded: One of the recommendations described the (largely non-monetary) form such action might take: In its final appearance, reparations were referenced in respect to recent officer-involved shootings and ongoing racial animus in the United States as areas of deep concern: As such, the bulk of conversation regarding the rumor was inaccurate in its scope. The UN didn't demand Americans pay reparations, nor did that body even make such a recommendation itself. A separate U.N. panel submitted an 18 August 2016 report on civil rights in the U.S. to the U.N. Council on Human Rights, and among the former's recommendations were reparatory justice. However, that action was described as largely not involving cash payments and was rather a broad-based approach involving a formal apology, health initiatives, educational opportunities, an African knowledge programme, psychological rehabilitation, technology transfer and financial support, and debt cancellation. Nonetheless, like most rumors about reparations, the claim instantly went viral. In prior instances popular but false rumors held President Obama had mandated the payment of reparations via executive order (or simply mandated them without an executive order), or that a lawmaker in Texas quietly sneaked reparations into a piece of legislation that was later passed. (en)
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