A SOLEMN APPEAL TO THE DESCENDANTS OF VICTIMS OF THE SLAVE TRADE AND SLAVERY

Yet recognition alone cannot suffice when justice remains incomplete.

The abolition decree of April 27, 1848, proclaimed slavery to be "an affront to human dignity." If this is the founding principle, then a clear requirement follows: violated dignity demands reparation. In both law and conscience, any crime against humanity gives rise to a right to reparation for the harm caused. The French Republic itself has recognized and compensated other victims of crimes against humanity. Why should the descendants of the victims of slavery be excluded from this principle of equality before the law?

The respect owed to the victims compels their current descendants to seek, before the competent courts, a ruling requiring the French State to provide reparation for the damaging consequences resulting from the commission of these crimes.

This is not a demand driven by resentment. It is an ethical, historical, and legal imperative.

An ethical imperative, because human dignity is indivisible.

A historical imperative, because slavery created lasting economic, social, and wealth inequalities whose effects persist.

A legal imperative, because a crime against humanity cannot be acknowledged without its consequences being addressed.

Refusing to initiate a process of financial reparation for those entitled to it amounts to perpetuating a fundamental inequality. It undermines the respect owed to the descendants of the victims. To do so implies, by omission, that the violation of their humanity was somehow less grave. It perpetuates, in new forms, the discrimination of the past.

Worse still, it denies that a crime occurred and demonstrates contempt—not only for the victims of the past but also for their descendants, who remain trapped in a state of demeaning humiliation and diminished humanity.

In short, it is an insult to the ancestors and to all their descendants.

To leave matters as they are is to accept the unacceptable; it is to submit once again to the order of the former masters.

We therefore solemnly call upon all those with a rightful claim as descendants of the victims of the slave trade and slavery to mobilize and contact Mir and its legal counsel, in order to initiate the necessary proceedings before the competent courts.

The legal battle against the State has been won; the courts can no longer refuse to rule against the State without violating the law by citing a statute of limitations that is inapplicable—and should never have been upheld by them—for a crime that is, by its very nature, imprescriptible.

It is the sheer number of claimants that will sway the judges, compelling them to uphold the law and ensure the proper application of justice.

We therefore call upon you—at this election time, when citizens reflect on their destiny and political choices—to authorize MIR Caraïbe (successor to MIR Martinique) to take legal action on your behalf. Mir has led this fight for twenty years and secured recognition of the valid claim against the State, a claim that will enable every heir of the victims of these two crimes to receive compensation for both past and present harm.

This is not about begging; it is about demanding the validation of an inalienable right and insisting that justice be served.

DEMANDING JUSTICE DOES NOT DIVIDE THE NATION.

DEMANDING REPARATION DOES NOT REWRITE HISTORY. IT MEANS DEMANDING THAT THE PRINCIPLES PROCLAIMED BY THE REPUBLIC BE FULLY UPHELD.

BECAUSE HUMAN DIGNITY KNOWS NO STATUTE OF MORAL LIMITATIONS.

BECAUSE REMEMBRANCE CALLS FOR JUSTICE.

BECAUSE EQUALITY BEFORE THE LAW ADMITS OF NO EXCEPTIONS.

Accordingly, we mandate legal action to ensure that justice is finally served by registering on the website : https://mirmartinique.com/article/appel-participer-action-reparation-mir

Done at Fort-de-France, on 14 September 2026

MIR Martinique, CNR, MIR Caraïbes ;

Garcin MALSA, President of MIR Martinique