One of France’s leading racism watchdogs said on Friday that it will push ahead with plans to sue a state-owned bank over profits from the colonial-era slave trade and reparations extorted from Haiti, on the same day President François Hollande said Paris would not pay reparations for the country's past mistakes, reports France 24.
The France’s Representative Council of Black Associations (CRAN) has accused the Caisse des Depots (CDC) bank of collecting damages that France forced Haiti to pay after slavery was abolished in the Caribbean nation, which declared independence from France in 1804 following the world's first successful slave revolt.
“There are many ways France can repair its past errors. It could build a museum dedicated to slavery, it could promote education around the issue, it could pay reparations to Haiti. But Hollande refuses to do anything,” Luis-Georges Tin, CRAN’s president, told FRANCE 24.
After winning its independence from France, Haiti was forced to pay-off the French government 90 million gold francs to compensate European slave-owners for their financial losses and in exchange for recognition of Haiti's autonomy.
Read more of this report from France 24.