Leaders and representatives from across the world have adopted the Accra Next Steps Commitments on Reparatory Justice (Accra Outcome Document) at the High-Level Consultative Conference held in Accra from June 17–19, 2026.

Hosted by President John Dramani Mahama, the outcome document outlines a coordinated global response to implement UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/80/250, which declares the trafficking of enslaved Africans and racialised chattel enslavement as the gravest crime against humanity.

Download the full document here:
📄 View/Download the Official Accra Next Steps PDF

Key Features and Strategic Pillars

The document is structured around normative frameworks, shared principles, and a Global Strategic Framework with the following core pillars:

• Acknowledgment of Truth and Apology — Calls for full, formal, and unconditional apologies from states and institutions involved, accompanied by guarantees of non-repetition.
• Law and Justice — Strengthens legal pathways, accountability mechanisms, and reforms to address systemic racism and support generational victims.
• Compensatory Reparations — Emphasises restitution, compensation, rehabilitation, and cessation of ongoing harm.
• Additional pillars (as outlined in the document) focus on rehabilitation, guarantees of non-repetition, cultural restitution, education and memory, development cooperation, and institutional reform.

The commitments draw on existing frameworks such as the revised CARICOM Ten Point Plan, the African Union’s Agenda 2063, the Accra Proclamation (2023), and various AU and UN decisions.

It stresses solidarity among Africans and People of African Descent, the right to development, and the need for inclusive global dialogue.

World leaders, jurists, scholars and civil society representatives have adopted a landmark outcome document in Accra that establishes a comprehensive framework to advance the reparatory justice agenda, following the United Nations General Assembly’s historic recognition of the transatlantic slave trade as a crime against humanity.

President John Dramani Mahama announced the adoption of the Accra Outcome Document at the close of the three-day Next Steps Conference, held at Christiansborg Castle – itself a former slave-trading fort – describing it as the unifying platform upon which Africa and its diaspora would jointly pursue the justice denied to their ancestors.

“Let this outcome document be the platform for how we forge ahead together in unity so that together we can achieve the justice that was denied our forebears, not only in terms of restitution and reparation, but also in the fight for creating a more just world,” President Mahama said in his closing address on Saturday.

The conference was convened by Ghana in direct response to the adoption of UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES 80/250 on 25 March 2026, which passed with the support of 123 member states. That resolution formally categorised the transatlantic slave trade as a crime against humanity, a watershed moment in decades of advocacy by African and Caribbean nations.

‘After that, what next?’

President Mahama revealed that the conference was born out of persistent questions from international partners following the UN vote.

“After the UN General Assembly, several of our partners asked me, after that, what next? I said, just wait. We did this together. We must decide the next steps together,” he recalled.

The Ghanaian leader noted that the Accra gathering stood apart from most international summits he had attended, observing that whereas attendance typically thins out by the second day, participants remained fully engaged throughout – a testament, he said, to the profound moral and historical weight of the discussions.

A technical team had worked for three weeks ahead of the conference to prepare the substantive deliberations, while a separate group laboured through the final morning to complete the outcome document, which was formally endorsed during the closing plenary.

A united front from Africa, CARICOM and diaspora

The conference was held alongside the first joint Africa-United States commemoration of Juneteenth on African soil, adding symbolic resonance to the proceedings. Delegations included representatives from African states, CARICOM nations, diaspora communities, academic institutions, faith organisations and civil society groups – all of whom, President Mahama said, had contributed to the advocacy that made the UN resolution possible.

“The unity that produced the resolution at the General Assembly is the same unity that will carry the reparatory justice agenda forward,” he said, urging all participants to sustain that spirit as they returned to their respective countries and institutions.

Framework for redress and a more just world

While the full text of the Accra Outcome Document has yet to be publicly released, officials indicated that it outlines concrete mechanisms for legal, financial, and historical redress, including pathways for formal apologies, debt cancellation, investment in health and education, and the return of looted cultural heritage.

The document is expected to serve as a reference instrument for future bilateral and multilateral negotiations, anchoring the reparatory justice movement within international law and human rights frameworks.

President Mahama emphasised that the pursuit of reparations was not solely about material compensation, but about rectifying systemic inequalities that persist centuries after the abolition of slavery.

“Together we can achieve the justice that was denied our forebears, not only in terms of restitution and reparation, but also in the fight for creating a more just world,” he reiterated.

The adoption of the Accra Outcome Document marks a pivotal shift from declaratory solidarity to actionable commitment, positioning Ghana and its partners at the forefront of a global movement to confront historical wrongs and reshape the architecture of international justice.

Ghana’s government has welcomed a landmark commitment from the Netherlands and Germany to return approximately 2,000 artefacts looted from the West African nation during the colonial era, Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa announced on Saturday.

The pledges were made during the Next Steps Conference on Reparatory Justice, held in Accra, where ambassadors from both European countries presented a catalogue of the treasures earmarked for repatriation to President John Dramani Mahama during the conference’s plenary session.

“The Government of Ghana welcomes the commendable announcement from the Netherlands and Germany during the Next Steps Conference that they are ready to return about 2,000 looted artefacts and items of cultural significance back to Ghana,” Ablakwa said in a Facebook post on Saturday, 20 June.

The Foreign Minister described the development as a significant milestone in efforts to address the historical removal of African cultural heritage, reflecting growing international willingness to engage in restitution processes following sustained diplomatic engagement.

Denmark issues apology, pledges castle preservation

In a further breakthrough, the Foreign Minister of Denmark issued an apology for his country’s role in the transatlantic enslavement of Africans and pledged support for preserving the castles Denmark built along Ghana’s coast.

Ablakwa noted that the Danish commitment forms part of broader efforts aimed at promoting historical truth, acknowledging past injustices, and ensuring non-repetition.

“The Foreign Minister of Denmark also apologized for their role in the transatlantic enslavement and pledged to help preserve the castles they built as a good faith effort to prevent historical erasure, promote truth telling and guarantee non-repetition,” he stated.

Ghana-led UN resolution credited for shift

The government attributed the positive turn in restitution cooperation to the adoption of a historic Ghana-led United Nations resolution on the return of looted cultural property.

“We applaud the positive conduct of restitution we are beginning to witness from our international partners in Europe since the adoption of the historic Ghana-led UN Resolution,” Ablakwa said.

The three-day Next Steps Conference, which ran from Wednesday to Friday, brought together heads of state from Africa and the Caribbean, as well as representatives from UNESCO, the African Union, and a French government delegation.

African leaders and global advocates for reparative justice used the platform to call for stronger international efforts to address the enduring legacy of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and advance historical redress.

The expected repatriation forms part of a broader push by African nations to reclaim cultural artefacts taken during the colonial period, many of which remain in European museums and private collections. Details on the timeline for the physical return of the artefacts, as well as plans for their reception and display in Ghana, are expected to be announced in due course.