New York, New York - On April 17, 1825, King Charles X of France issued an ordinance recognizing Haiti's independence – at the cost of a 150-million-franc debt imposed on the former colony. Two hundred years later, calls for restitution and reparations resound louder than ever.

Haiti agreed to pay the enormous sum after France sent warships to its shores in a move clearly designed to coerce the fledgling nation into compliance.

This injustice saw the first Black republic – established by formerly enslaved people – forced to compensate its colonial oppressors for recognition of independence.

To mark the bicentennial of the extortionist demand, French President Emanuel Macron on Thursday announced the creation of a commission of French and Haitian historians to examine the so-called independence debt.

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"Recognizing the truth of history is refusing to forget or erase it," Macron said in a statement. "For France, it also means accepting its share of truth in the construction of memory, a painful one for Haiti, which began in 1825."

But Macron's move did not come with a commitment to reparations – a glaring omission that certainly did not go unnoticed on the final day of the fourth session of UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent (PFPAD) in New York.

Dr. Verene Shepherd, vice chair of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, insisted there remains "a duty that will not change until President Macron's statement today is turned into money. From promise to payment."

"Today, we are demanding that justice be done with a clear and restorative act: the full restitution of this unjust debt," echoed Ambassador Pierre Ericq Pierre, Haiti's permanent representative to the UN.

The Haitian Revolution marked a turning point in world history, inspiring independence and anti-colonial movements across the Americas, the Caribbean, and beyond.

"It is a moment in history that changed geopolitics forever," said Monique Clesca of the Haitian Afro-Descendant Collective. "That moment brought to the fore the supremacy of respect for human dignity and human rights."

A 2022 New York Times analysis found the money Haiti paid for its independence would have added between $21 billion and $115 billion to the country's economy over the last two centuries.

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The damage was exacerbated by a US invasion and occupation of Haiti between 1915 and 1934.

The independence debt and ongoing oppression of Haiti have been widely condemned as a concerted effort to discourage oppressed peoples from rising up for freedom. The consequences triggered cycles of debt, poverty, violence, and trauma whose impacts are still felt acutely in Haiti today.

"This pact, a mere 21 years after the country’s independence, started the transformation of Haiti into a neocolony," Clesca said. "Today, on the bicentennial of this ransom, we call on France to stop the massive hypocrisy of the principles of liberty and equality it puts forward."

"Two hundred years later to the day is the time for reparatory justice from France, including financial restitution and reparations."

Justice for Haiti has been an order of first concern for PFPAD, which in its third session in Geneva last year called for the prioritization of restitution and reparations for Haiti.

PFPAD released a position paper in January outlining the historical roots of the current human rights crisis in Haiti, which it found to be inherently linked to the Western legacy of enslavement and colonialism.

"The Permanent Forum considers that development assistance has proven to be insufficient to quell the crisis in Haiti and to address its chronic underdevelopment. Development assistance must therefore be re-envisioned and considered alongside reparations," the paper states.

Among its recommendations, PFPAD called for the establishment of a reparations fund for Haiti and the organization of a debate in the UN Human Rights Council on the linkages between the past and present human rights challenges, with a view to establishing an international independent commission of inquiry into reparatory justice for Haiti.

The growing demands for reparations come as Haitians in Haiti and across the diaspora continue to experience escalating human rights violations.

"As a young adult, I've watched this country [the US] whip Haitians at the border, and I've watched the French president say we were worse off without them. I've seen occupations, I've seen loans, I've seen invasions, and I've seen assassinations – everything except respect for our sovereignty," said Krys Cerisier of the Black Indigenous Liberation Movement.

Many speakers called for greater international support for the people of Haiti in their struggle against Western imperialism.

"We call for the solidarity of all Afrodescendants in our battle," Clesca said. "There is urgency. Our cause is a noble one, and we are in it to win justice."