MWE Correspondent
Algeria is set to host the International Conference on the Crimes of Colonialism in Africa on 30 November and 1 December 2025.
The event aligns with the African Union Assembly Decision 903(XXXVIII), adopted in February 2025, which endorsed President Abdelmadjid Tebboune’s proposal to hold a conference dedicated to the AU Theme of the Year 2025: “Justice for Africans and People of African Descent through Reparations.”
The initiative reflects Algeria’s historic struggle against colonialism and its continued commitment to preserving the dignity, memory, and rights of African peoples. Under President Tebboune’s leadership, Algeria aims to unify continental efforts to criminalize colonialism, slavery, racial segregation, and apartheid as crimes against humanity, in line with AU recommendations.
The conference will bring together ministers, legal experts, historians, academics, and specialists from Africa, the Caribbean, and beyond to develop a collective African position on historical justice, reparations, the restitution of cultural heritage, and the preservation of collective memory.
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Key discussions will focus on the human, cultural, economic, environmental, and legal dimensions of colonial crimes, including intergenerational trauma, the looting and destruction of African cultural heritage, exploitation of natural resources, economic disparities linked to colonial rule, environmental impacts such as nuclear testing on African populations, and potential legal frameworks to enhance the criminalization of colonialism and establish a permanent African reparations and restitution mechanism.
As both host and initiator, Algeria seeks to strengthen Africa’s framework for historical justice by providing a high-level platform to advocate for international recognition of colonial crimes and promote concrete reparative measures. A major expected outcome is the adoption of the “Algiers Declaration,” which will serve as a continental benchmark for codifying colonial crimes, acknowledging their consequences, and shaping an African strategy for justice and reparations. This declaration will be submitted to the African Union Summit in February 2026 for consideration and endorsement.
Through this initiative, Algeria reaffirms its pivotal role in advancing the continent’s aspirations for justice, reparations, the preservation of historical memory, and the establishment of a shared African identity rooted in dignity and justice.
