Young people from all over the world recently joined with UK politicians in Westminster to discuss the legacy of slavery, as part of our Africa 2007 programme.

Preparing the debate
In the two days before the debate, fifty young adults from sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean, the United States and the UK talked about the impact of the slave trade on our life today. They then joined the politicians in the historic Grand Committee Room of the House of Commons, to pass on the questions and perceptions from their intense discussions.

A timely and practical debate
To commemorate the two-hundredth anniversary of the Slave Trade Abolition Act, the debate considered how lessons from the past could be applied to our future, and could help to tackle today's forms of slavery (such as human trafficking and the recruitment of child soldiers).

Reparations for slavery
One Kenyan teenager received a lot of support from her fellow debaters when she asked: `Why is there no reparation available to the descendants of victims of the Atlantic slave trade in the way that there was for victims of the Holocaust?’ Senior politician, John Prescott, replied: ‘Certainly it is much easier to identify individuals who suffered during events in our lifetime, such as the Jews during the war against Germany, than it is in this case. But we have a responsibility because a great sin - a great evil trade - took place. What we have done in this bicentenary year is not only to remind our people of the terrible slave trade that went on, but to change our education legislation so that we can begin to tell the truth about what happened.'

How the debate came to be
It was during a recent visit to Ghana, to experience our pioneering Connecting Classrooms programme, that John Prescott invited young people to create the Westminster debate. After the debate he said, ‘The British Council Slavery Youth Debate is a tribute to the energy and vision of young people who want a better future for themselves and their children. I look forward to their recommendations for tackling modern-day forms of slavery to be presented to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) youth forum in Uganda this November’.

Making history
The debate was made historic by the attendance of the Paramount Chief of Elmina, Nana Kowdo Condua VI. This is the first time a paramount chief from Elmina has set foot on UK soil for more than a century. In March this year he lifted a 134 year ban on flying the Union Jack in the Elmina community to commemorate the passing of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act.