African States Adopt “Algiers Declaration” to Confront Legacy of Colonialism

On 30 November to 1 December 2025, the African continent took a historic step toward reckoning with the injustices of colonial rule. In the Algerian capital, dozens of ministers, jurists, historians, civil society activists and diaspora representatives from across Africa and beyond convened at the International Conference on Crimes of Colonialism in Africa. By its conclusion, they formally adopted the Algiers Declaration: a continental blueprint for recognizing, codifying and addressing colonial-era crimes, and for pursuing reparatory justice for affected peoples.

The gathering, held under the patronage of Abdelmadjid Tebboune of Algeria, was convened in implementation of African Union (AU) Assembly Decision 903(XXXVIII), adopted earlier in 2025, one of the foundational acts behind this renewed push for reparations across Africa.

What the Algiers Declaration Aims to Do

The Algiers Declaration lays out a multi-dimensional framework that aims to:

1.      Officially recognize colonialism along with slavery, racial segregation, and apartheid as crimes against humanity;

2.      Criminalize colonial-era injustices under a unified African legal and moral standard;

3.      Document and acknowledge the lasting human, economic, environmental, cultural, and intergenerational harms caused by colonial rule;

4.      Demand reparatory justice, including restitution, reparations, and the return of looted cultural property;

5.      Establish continental mechanisms and a shared African position to pursue justice, restoration, and collective memory preservation across the 55 AU member states.

According to participants and analysts, the Declaration is meant not simply as symbolic recognition, but as a roadmap to be submitted to the next AU Summit (scheduled for February 2026) for possible endorsement and activation of instruments of reparatory justice.

Why the Conference and Declaration Matter Now

A New Era of African-Led Justice

The conference revives and intensifies a long-standing effort by African states and diaspora communities for reparatory justice and historical reckoning. While prior efforts such as the Abuja Proclamation (1993) and subsequent reparations summits laid groundwork for acknowledging colonial-era wrongs, the Algiers Declaration represents a concerted push for legal codification and institutional mechanisms.

Bridging Legal Gaps

International human-rights law already criminalizes abhorrent practices such as slavery, torture, segregation, and genocide. But colonialism, in many of its manifestations, has never been universally codified as a crime against humanity. The Algiers Declaration seeks to fill that gap: to give African states a unified, legally grounded instrument allowing them to hold accountable the structural injustices including land dispossession, resource exploitation, forced labour, cultural erasure, and political subjugation inflicted during colonial rule.

Reparations, Restitution, and Memory

For many African nations and African diaspora communities worldwide, the call for reparations is not merely about compensation: it is about reclaiming dignity, restoring cultural heritage, and undoing the intergenerational damage inflicted by colonial exploitation. The Declaration thus emphasizes restitution of looted artifacts and cultural property, recognition of stolen lands and resources, and compensation for economic, social and environmental harms.

It also underscores the importance of collective memory: preserving and honouring the experiences of Africans under colonialism, and ensuring that future generations understand the true cost of colonial occupation.

Key Voices: From Call for Justice to Demand for Action

Among the most vocal advocates was Ahmed Attaf, Algeria’s Foreign Minister, who invoked his country’s painful experience under French colonial rule as emblematic of Africa’s broader suffering. He emphasized that restitution must be understood not as a benevolent gesture, but as a legal and moral obligation, a rightful demand by colonized peoples.

Meanwhile, continental parliaments and pan-African institutions rallied behind the call, with Pan-African Parliament (PAP) President Fortune Zephaniah Charumbira among others urging collective African agency in reclaiming identity and advocating reparatory justice.

Challenges Ahead & Potential Impact

While the Algiers Declaration marks a watershed moment, its ultimate impact will depend on what happens next especially at the forthcoming AU Summit in early 2026, where the Declaration is to be submitted for formal endorsement. If adopted, it could trigger a cascade of initiatives: continental reparations mechanisms, legal instruments to prosecute colonial-era crimes, restitution of stolen artifacts, and coordinated advocacy on the global stage.

Still, the road ahead is fraught with obstacles. Many former colonial powers have historically resisted legal liability for colonial-era injustices. International legal frameworks currently do not uniformly define colonization itself as a crime, which could complicate enforcement. And even among African states there may be divergent priorities and capacities for implementing reparatory measures.

Yet the moral and political momentum, symbolized by the Algiers Declaration may be enough to transform decades of advocacy into tangible action.

Conclusion: A Historic Moment and a New Beginning

The adoption of the Algiers Declaration represents more than just a collective statement of African outrage against colonial legacies. It is a bold, continent-wide attempt to reframe colonialism not as history's regretful memory, but as a series of crimes requiring justice, restitution, and long-overdue reparations.

As Africa prepares to present the Declaration to its governing body at the next AU Summit, the coming months may prove pivotal. For millions of Africans and people of African descent worldwide, the Algiers Declaration could become the foundation upon which long-sought justice is built, not as a favor, but as a right.