U.N. panel says nations legally bound to weigh slavery reparations

The United Nations’ top anti-discrimination body said Monday that states parties to a binding 1965 anti-discrimination treaty are legally obligated to consider reparations for the transatlantic slave trade, escalating a fight that has already landed in a federal courtroom in Illinois.

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, known as CERD, called on governments to pursue comprehensive restorative justice combining compensation, restitution, rehabilitation and structural reforms. The panel argued the passage of time does not excuse states from addressing the lasting effects of slavery on racial inequality today.

The guidance builds on action the General Assembly took in March, when member nations adopted a resolution that declared the transatlantic slave trade the gravest crime against humanity — a vote the United States, Israel and Argentina opposed.

The renewed U.N. push comes as the Trump administration works to dismantle reparations efforts at home. In June, the Justice Department moved to intervene in Judicial Watch’s class-action lawsuit against Evanston, Illinois, arguing the Chicago suburb’s program — which provides up to $25,000 in cash or housing assistance to eligible Black residents and descendants — violates the Equal Protection Clause and the Fair Housing Act. Evanston was the first U.S. municipality to adopt a reparations program, and the case, originally filed in May 2024 on behalf of six non-Black plaintiffs, is still awaiting a ruling from U.S. District Judge John F. Kness on whether the federal government may join it.

Michael Bekesha, a senior attorney at Judicial Watch, dismissed the U.N.’s guidance as unenforceable in the U.S., telling Fox News Digital that whatever the world body concludes “isn’t going to be constitutional and is not going to fly in the United States.”

Reparations programs have spread beyond Evanston to cities on the East and West coasts in recent years. CERD’s guidance argues that money alone will not suffice, pressing governments to adopt national action plans with firm deadlines developed alongside communities of African descent.