(Algiers, November 30, and December 1, 2025)
WE, Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the participating Member States of the African Union (AU), Heads of Delegations, Representatives of the AU Commission including the Pan-African Parliament, Representative of CARICOM region, academics, experts, jurists, and historians, meeting in Algiers on 30 November and December 1, 2025, within the framework of the International Conference on the Crimes of Colonialism in Africa (hereinafter “the Algiers Conference”), at the invitation of the Government of the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria, in collaboration with the AU Commission, and in accordance with the relevant Decision Assembly/AU/Dec.903(XXXVIII) of February 2025;
Emphasising that the Algiers Conference represents a major political step in the Pan-African quest for justice, historical recognition, reparations, and memorial sovereignty in the face of the multidimensional crimes of colonialism, fully aligned with the African Union’s theme for 2025 dedicated to access to justice and reparations for Africans and people of African descent, and affirming that this theme should be an extended toa ten-year framework covering the period 2026-2035;
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Recalling all relevant AU decisions, including Decision Assembly/AU/Dec.884(XXXVII) of February 2025, proclaiming theme of the year 2025 to be “Justice for Africans and People of African Descent through Reparations”; Decision Assembly/AU/Dec.934(XXXVIII) of February 2025, on the classification of slavery, deportation, and colonization as crimes against humanity and genocide against African peoples; as well as the Addis Ababa Declaration on Transcontinental Partnership for Reparatory Justice (7 September 2025) adopted by the 2nd Africa-Caribbean Summit on 7 September 2025; the Abuja Declaration of 1993; the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action (2001); and the Accra Proclamation of November 2023 on the establishment of a united front for justice and reparations for Africans;
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Recalling and saluting the sacrifices of all African peoples who have fought in solidarity to regain the independence and sovereignty of African countries and to restore truth and justice;
Considering that no reparation can fully heal the suffering inflicted, nor restore the interrupted human, political, economic and cultural trajectories; but that this process stems from an imperative of justice, remembrance, and dignity, inseparable from the sovereign affirmation of the peoples of the continent;
Reaffirming our shared commitment to the principles of African unity, justice, equality, freedom, self-determination which arose directly from the struggle against colonial domination and the restoration of sovereignty over Africa’s economic, cultural, and natural resources;, and dignity for Africans and people of African descent, and to the promotion of human rights, peace, and respect for the sanctity of life, , solidarity cohesion and cooperation among African countries and peoples in accordance with the Constitutive Act of the African Union, and the Charter of the United Nations; and
Emphasizing that these principles continue to guide the continent’s defense of sovereignty against all forms of interference, intervention, and external pressure;
Recognizing the heroic struggles of African peoples, liberation movements, intellectuals, women and youth, and the global African diaspora, who transformed collective suffering into solidarity and resistance, and whose sacrifices remain fundamental to the quest for freedom, dignity, and justice on the continent;
Noting with concern that several territories around the world remain under colonial domination, in contradiction with the fundamental principles of international law, and reaffirming our unwavering solidarity with the peoples who continue to fight for their freedom and self-determination, including the Palestinian people who suffer the daily horrors of occupation.
Recognising that redressing the historical injustices is essential to achieving the aspirations of Agenda 2063, “The Africa We Want,” notably inclusive development, shared prosperity, and a peaceful and united continent,
We hereby adopt the “Algiers Declaration” as a collective expression of the African will to restore historical truth, promote justice, and advance the cause of reparations:
On memory, shared history, truth, and the moral imperative:
We acknowledge, with profound sorrow, that all African peoples suffered, under colonial rule, the violation of their fundamental rights, the erasure of their cultures, languages, identities, and the plundering of their tangible and intangible heritage.
This shared experience constitutes a unifying legacy that brings Africans together in their collective quest for truth, justice, reparations, and the total eradication of all vestiges of the past colonial domination.
We emphasize that all African peoples remain deeply committed to the preservation their national memory, to honoring their martyrs and the sacrifices made to achieve their independence, which constitutes a sovereign and absolute right, that of constructing and transmitting their own historical narratives, in accordance with their lived experience, their dignity and their aspirations.
We call upon the former colonial powers to fully assume their historical responsibilities through the public and explicit recognition of the injustices committed.
We agree to strengthen efforts in research, archives, and intergenerational transmission to ensure the integrity of collective memory.
We recommend the creation of Pan-African digital archives, the revision of educational curricula, and the creation of memorials, museums, and commemorative days.
We agree to work towards the restitution of cultural property, archives, and human remains illegitimately held by colonising countries.
On the codification of colonial crimes:
We reaffirm that colonialism, transatlantic slavery, deportation, and apartheid constitute crimes against humanity and forms of genocide, which have inflicted systemic harm on African peoples.
These acts represent the most serious violations recognized under international law and international humanitarian law and remain imprescriptible.
We are committed to advancing the international recognition of colonial crimes and working towards their codification as explicit crimes within international legal instruments and mechanisms.
We call upon African, regional, and international courts, as well as relevant international law bodies, including the United Nations General Assembly, the Human Rights Council, the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court, and African regional bodies such as the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights to undertake an in-depth legal analysis of systemic violence linked to colonialism, with a view to establishing its direct connection to recognised categories of crimes against humanity and to the elements constituting the crime of genocide.
We support the establishment and strengthening of legal mechanisms at the national, regional, continental, and international levels aimed at institutionalizing criminalization of colonialism in international law through the documentation, access, and full restitution of archives, and to guarantee both legal accountability for colonial crimes and their lasting consequences.
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We call upon academic institutions of AU Member States to develop model laws, draft conventions, and jurisprudential analyses that advance the recognition, criminalisation, and prosecution of colonial crimes.
We welcome the establishment of the newly created AU mechanisms on reparations the African Union Committee of Experts on Reparations (AUCER) and the African Union Legal Expert Reference Group on Reparations (AULER) and call for their strengthening.
We support the creation of a Pan-African Committee on Memory and Historical Truth, which will be mandated to harmonise historical approaches, oversee the collection of archives, coordinate African research centers, and produce analyses and recommendations for the continent.
On the Human Impact and Generational Justice:
We condemn all forms of colonialism, which constituted a structured system of domination, exploitation, and identity erasure, characterised by military occupation, mass violence, forced displacement, land dispossession, settler colonialism, resource plundering, nuclear and environmental testing, and the erasure of cultural, linguistic, identity-based, and spiritual heritage, as well as the production of falsified narratives aimed at denying the existence, dignity, and resistance of African peoples.
We demand the recognition of these dramatic human impacts, which have caused lasting psychological consequences on African societies and populations and which continue to manifest today through new forms of discrimination, systemic racism, and hate speech.
(to be continued)