The Foundation for Peace Professionals, PeacePro, has called on the Pope, European governments, Arab states, and other institutions that benefited from slavery to move beyond acknowledgments and take concrete accountability steps.
In a statement by Executive Director Abdulrazaq Hamzat, PeacePro said public apologies and recognition of slavery as a crime against humanity are no longer enough. The group argued that institutions must also account for the wealth, influence, and institutional growth they inherited from centuries of exploitation.
“Many institutions have acknowledged slavery as a crime against humanity. That acknowledgment is welcome, but without accountability it risks becoming a symbolic gesture rather than a moral reckoning,” Hamzat said.
According to PeacePro, the focus of the global debate should shift from whether slavery was wrong to what responsibilities beneficiaries owe today. The organization said the effects of slavery remain visible in inequality, development gaps, and geopolitical imbalances.
Hamzat urged governments, churches, universities, corporations, financial institutions, and other bodies linked to the transatlantic and other slave trades to conduct independent historical audits of their involvement. He said they should then publicly disclose the benefits accrued and design their own voluntary accountability measures.
“Accountability is most meaningful when it comes from the conscience of the beneficiary, not only from the demands of the victim,” he stated. PeacePro suggested such measures could include educational programs, historical preservation, scholarships, development partnerships, or investments in affected communities.
The group insisted that reconciliation requires moral responsibility, not just remembrance.
“The world has spent generations acknowledging slavery. The next generation must focus on accountability,” PeacePro said.
