On 7 September 2025, the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General to the African Union and Head of UNOAU, Mr. Parfait Onanga-Anyanga, represented the United Nations at the Second Africa–Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Summit, hosted by the African Union in Addis Ababa under the theme “Transcontinental Partnership in Pursuit of Reparatory Justice for Africans and People of African Descent through Reparations.”

The Secretary-General of CARICOM, Dr Carla Barnett, commended the progress since the first Summit, including the launch of the Health Development Partnership for Africa and the Caribbean (HeDPAC) and its draft action plan. She called for joint advocacy on the reform of the international financial infrastructure, joint responses to climate change, and a mechanism to concretize collaborative work on reparations.

The Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Mahamoud Ali Youssouf, also rallied support for strengthening solidarity and recognition of the crimes committed against African peoples, repentance and reparations. He stressed the shared responsibility to promote investment, trade, innovation and research, and harness and leverage both regions’ huge human and natural resources for influence.

Speaking on behalf of the UN Secretary-General, the SRSG underscored the imperative for Africa and the African diaspora to strengthen ancestral and cultural ties and to explore new avenues of multilateral collaboration in areas such as trade, investment, tourism, science and technology. He echoed the UN Secretary-General’s call to acknowledge the enduring impact of colonialism and the trans-Atlantic slave trade, emphasizing the need for reform of global institutions in line with the ‘Pact for the Future’ to ensure justice and equality for all peoples of African descent.