Ghana, Togo co-host high-level UNGA80 event on UN reform and reparations

The Republics of Ghana and Togo jointly convened a High-Level Side Event on the margins of the 80th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA80) under the theme “The United Nations 80 Years Later: Accelerating the Reform Agenda and Strengthening the Momentum Towards Justice and Reparations.”

The event, hosted at the African Union (AU) Representative Office in New York, brought together Ministers, Ambassadors, senior United Nations and African Union officials, and members of the African Diaspora.

Delivering remarks on behalf of Ghana, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa (MP), extended the warm greetings of President John Dramani Mahama, who currently serves as the AU Champion for Reparations. He emphasised the significance of the gathering as both a moment of reflection on eight decades of the United Nations and an opportunity to renew momentum for Africa‘s calls for justice, reparations, and institutional reform.

Speakers at the event underscored the continued imbalance in the multilateral system, particularly the underrepresentation of Africa and the Global South in global decision-making structures. They reaffirmed the urgency of comprehensive UN reform, including the reform of the Security Council.

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On reparations, participants stressed that justice for Africa and people of African descent must be viewed not as abstract aspirations but as moral, historical, and developmental imperatives. They welcomed the momentum generated by the recent 2nd Africa–CARICOM Summit in Addis Ababa, which adopted a landmark Declaration on Transcontinental Partnership in Pursuit of Reparatory Justice.

Additionally, speakers applauded the African Union’s decision to extend its reparations theme beyond 2025 into a Decade of Reparations (2026–2036) and to operationalise and adequately resource newly established AU mechanisms dedicated to advancing the reparations agenda.

The side event concluded with a strong call to action: accelerate UN reform, mobilise legal and financial instruments to turn reparations commitments into measurable outcomes, and strengthen solidarity between Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, and the wider African Diaspora.

Participants affirmed that reparations are not only about addressing historical injustices but also about dismantling persistent structural inequalities and laying the foundation for a fairer, more just future for generations to come.