Africa Day 25 May 2025: The Year of Reparations

In 2025, the African Union (AU) declared the “Year of Reparations: Justice for Africans and People of African Descent through Reparations.” This theme reflects a global call to recognize and address the long-lasting effects of slavery, colonialism, apartheid, and other forms of racial injustice that have shaped African societies and the African diaspora.

Reparations refer to the actions taken to make amends for serious wrongs or injustices. In this context, reparations can take many forms:

• Financial compensation
• Returning land or property
• Restoring cultural heritage
• Investing in education and development
• Public apologies and recognition of past wrongs.

Africans and people of African descent have suffered from:

• The trans-Atlantic slave trade, where millions were forcibly taken to the Americas.
• Colonialism, when African countries were controlled and exploited by European powers.
• Apartheid and racial discrimination, especially in countries like South Africa.
• The loss of cultural identity, land, and heritage.

These injustices still affect many communities today. The 2025 AU theme calls for global awareness and collective action to right these historical wrongs.

1. Truth-Telling and Historical Acknowledgment
2. Restitution and Compensation
3. Return of Cultural Heritage
4. Support for African Diaspora Communities
5. Grassroots Education and Community Empowerment

• Africa Day, celebrated every year on May 25, marks the birth of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in 1963. In 2025, this day will be especially meaningful as countries reflect on:-
• The journey toward African unity and freedom,
• The call for reparations and justice,
• The resilience and achievements of African people.

1. Why do you think the African Union chose reparations as its theme for 2025?
2. What types of injustices from the past still affect people today?
3. How can young people and communities help promote reparative justice?
4. Do you think returning stolen artifacts can help rebuild cultural identity? Why or why not?

The African Union’s 2025 theme is a powerful reminder that justice is not only about the present—it’s about acknowledging the past and shaping a better future. Through education, advocacy, and collaboration, young people and communities can play a key role in the global movement for reparations and justice.

After World War II, the process of decolonization of the African continent gathered momentum as Africans increasingly agitated for more political rights and independence. While in some parts of the continent colonial powers reluctantly and grudgingly relinquished power, in other parts African people launched protracted struggles against the recalcitrant colonial regimes. Thus, between 1945 and 1965, a significant number of African countries gained independence from European colonial powers. Ghana became the first African country south of the Sahara to gain independence on 6 March 1957. Its independence served as an inspiration to other African countries struggling against colonial rule, and as a result, Ghana occupied a central role in the struggle against colonial rule.

Just over a year after its independence, Ghana, under the leadership of Kwame Nkrumah, convened the first Conference of Independent African States on 15 April 1958. Amongst those countries that attended were Ghana, Ethiopia, Sudan, Liberia, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia. There were also representatives of the National Liberation Front of Algeria and the Union of Cameroonian Peoples. It is worth noting that there were only eight African countries that were independent at this time. The conference was an unequivocal assertion of Africa’s rejection of colonial and imperialist domination of the continent. It became the first Pan-African conference to be held on the continent, bringing together various African countries. Furthermore, the conference became a collective platform from which African countries sought to cooperate in the struggle against colonialism.

To further encourage and forge a common goal of fighting against colonial rule, the conference called for the observance of African Freedom Day once a year to mark “the onward progress of the liberation movement and to symbolize the determination of the people of Africa to free themselves from foreign domination and exploitation.” Consequently, 15 April was enacted as African Freedom Day (or Africa Liberation Day), and this marked the beginning of what would later be known as Africa Day.

Subsequent to the April conference, another conference, the All Africa People’s Conference (AAPC), was held on 8-13 December 1958 in Accra, Ghana. The AAPC was attended by both independent and non-independent countries and representatives of liberation movements. From South Africa, the African National Congress (ANC) could not formally attend, as the organisation was prevented by the apartheid government from doing so. However, a memorandum was sent to the conference.  Alfred Hutchinson, a member of the ANC in the Transvaal and a1956 Treason Trialist who left the country without a passport after his acquittal, attended the AAPC on behalf of the ANC. Also in attendance was Patrick Duncan, then a member of the Liberal Party of South Africa (LPSA). Duncan later joined the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC).

Patrick Duncan (left) and Alfred Hutchinson (right), delegates at the All Africa People's Conference in Ghana, 1958. Source: Private Collection of George M. Houser, African Activist Archive.

From 1959 to 1963, African Liberation Day was celebrated in Ethiopia, South Africa, Ghana, and by African people in Britain, China, the Soviet Union, and the United States (US). Other conferences were held in January 1960 in Tunisia, followed by another one in Egypt in March 1961. As more African countries became independent, the need for an organisation that would articulate the aspirations of African people and their struggle arose. Consequently, on 25 May 1963, leaders of 32 African nations converged in Ethiopia‘s capital, Addis Ababa, and formed the Organization of African Unity (OAU).

The organization agreed to have an annual assembly of heads of state, a council of ministers, a general secretariat, and a commission of mediation, conciliation, and arbitration. Perhaps, more importantly, the OAU supported the struggle for liberation in Southern Africa through the OAU Liberation Committee. Both the ANC and PAC received support in the struggle against apartheid from the OAU through this committee.

Among other things, it was agreed at the formation of the OAU to change the date of Africa Freedom Day from 15 April to 25 May. As a consequence of the change, African nations celebrate Africa Day on this date. After the first democratic election in 1994, South Africa joined the OAU on 23 May 1994. Another significant development connected to this date was the replacement of the OAU 38 years after its formation by the African Union (AU) on 25 May 2001.