London
CNN
—
The Church of England has welcomed a report that requires it to spearhead the institution of a £1 billion ($1.3 billion) fund to deal with its historic ties to slavery.
The document, launched Monday, recommends that the church’s preliminary dedication of £100 million ($127 million) to the “Fund for Therapeutic, Restore and Justice” ought to type the nucleus of an even bigger initiative that may goal property of over £1 billion.
The Church Commissioners group, which manages the church’s £10.3 billion ($13 billion) investments, has accepted the report “in full,” the church mentioned in a statement.
The report was drafted by an unbiased “oversight group” comprising primarily Black specialists from varied fields, recruited to advise the Commissioners on the brand new fund.
Established final yr following revelations that the Church had profited from the South Sea Firm, which was concerned within the transatlantic slave commerce, the fund will put money into Black-led companies specializing in schooling, financial empowerment, well being and bettering Black individuals’s entry to land and meals.
The report additionally requires the Church Commissioners to construct up the worth of the fund by bringing in co-investors whereas additionally rising its personal allocation.
The Church of England is the established church in the UK. Its most senior chief, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, can be the non secular head of the worldwide Anglican church.
“No sum of money can totally atone for or totally redress the centuries-long influence of African chattel enslavement, the results of that are nonetheless felt world wide immediately,” mentioned Barbados-born Bishop Rosemarie Mallett, who led the oversight group.
“However implementing the suggestions will present the dedication of the Church Commissioners to supporting the method of therapeutic, restore and justice for all of these throughout society impacted by the legacy of African chattel enslavement.”
Britain enslaved 3.1 million Africans between 1640 and 1807, transporting them to colonies world wide, in keeping with Historic England, a public physique. Many of those individuals had been taken to the Caribbean to work on sugar plantations, which made their house owners very rich via the export of sugar, molasses and rum, in keeping with the Nationwide Archives.
“Crimes in opposition to humanity rooted in African chattel enslavement have induced injury so huge it would require affected person effort spanning generations to deal with. However we are able to begin immediately, in small and huge methods,” Monday’s report mentioned.
It additionally urged the Church Commissioners to ship the complete sum dedicated to the fund before over the 9 years initially envisaged.
“The oversight group’s unbiased work with the Church Commissioners is the start of a multi-generational response to the appalling evil of transatlantic chattel enslavement,” mentioned Welby.
In 2020, main British establishments, together with the Bank of England and insurance coverage market Lloyd’s of London, apologized for his or her historic ties to the transatlantic slave commerce within the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests sparked by the homicide of George Floyd in the US.
The motion noticed firms world wide pledge to deal with racial injustice by, as an illustration, rising ethnic minority hiring or donating to charitable organizations.