The government of the Pacific country of Vanuatu is to appeal to Britain and France for compensation for 19th century ”slave voyages” which saw 62 000 Melanesians uprooted to work in the sugarcane fields of Queensland and Fiji.
Thousands of Pacific islanders were kidnapped or tricked by European and South American traders and taken away for manual labour in Pacific colonies in the late 19th century.
Labourers were sold to plantation owners for £6 to £9 a head and were typically paid £6 a year to work six days a week in cane plantations, where at times the death rate was as high as one in 10.
Traders got round anti-slavery laws by forcing or coercing Pacific islanders to sign contracts guaranteeing a limited term of indentured labour.
Vanuatu Foreign Minister Moana Carcasses told The Guardian he was in contact with local groups demanding compensation, and planned to raise the issue with the British and French governments later this year.
”The group who are speaking to me had about 1 000 families. It’s quite big numbers who are claiming, and of course there are others who are claiming whom I have not spoken with,” he said.
An appeal to the Australian government has been rebuffed: ”They said that’s a long time ago, why should they be responsible? I respect that way of seeing things, but it won’t stop me knocking on the door.”
The move follows a billion-dollar claim launched in New York last month against the shipping insurer Lloyd’s of London and two American companies accused of profiting from the transatlantic slave trade. — Â