Reparations in the United States

In the United States, egregious human rights violations against Black people – including slavery, lynchings, Jim Crow laws and Black Codes – have been followed by policies and practices that continue to harm Black communities today. The US government has never adequately accounted for these wrongs, which continue to impact Black people via structural racism and pervasive racial inequality. Under international human rights law, governments have an obligation to provide effective remedies for human rights violations,  including through reparations. Human Rights Watch documents the continuing impacts of this history, advocates for the United States to recognize the human dignity of Black people in the US, repair the enduring harms of slavery, and adopt measures to directly address racial inequality.