Late Guyana President Burnham’s daughter among lawyers petitioning King Charles for slavery reparations

Last Updated on Tuesday, 8 September 2026, 8:27 by Written By Denis Chabrol

Ms Ulele Burnham- the daughter of late Prime Minister and Guyana’s first Executive President, Forbes Burnham- is among three lawyers who have filed a petition on behalf of Jamaica on slavery reparations with the British monarch, King Charles III.

Mr Burnham, who founded the People’s National Congress (PNC), became premier in 1964 and led Guyana into independence in 1966 and republican status in 1970. In 1980, the independence constitution was replaced and he became Guyana’s first executive President until his death in 1985.

The United Kingdom-based law firm, Doughty Street Chambers, described the move as “an unprecedented and historic moment in the global fight for reparatory justice”.

The other lawyers are Edward Fitzgerald KC and Harj Narulla.

The three lawyers are representing the Attorney General of Jamaica and are instructed as Counsel by Lawrence Cartier of Keystone Law.

A delegation of high-profile government representatives has travelled from Jamaica to London for the Petition filing.

Buckingham Palace has since said “We understand the Jamaican government is seeking a petition to be heard before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council,” a Buckingham Palace spokesperson said today. “The process for seeking a petition is to lodge it with the Judicial Committee so that referral under section four of the 1833 Act can be considered. We also understand the Jamaican representatives will be received by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office for bilateral discussions.”

Doughty Chambers says the petition asks King Charles – as Jamaica’s Head of State – to refer three specific legal questions to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council:

1. Whether the seizure of Africans, their forced transportation to Jamaica and enslavement there as chattel, was ever lawful under English law;
2. Whether the seizure of Africans, their forced transportation to Jamaica and enslavement there as chattel, was, and is, a breach of international law; and
3. Whether there is a legal obligation on the part of the UK to provide a reparatory remedy to the people of Jamaica.

Jamaica’s Petition has been endorsed by the Heads of Government of all CARICOM countries. Ghana’s president, John Dramani Mahama, also expressed his support in an address to the Jamaican parliament last month, and in correspondence with the Government of Jamaica.

The Petition comes at a time of growing international momentum around reparations for transatlantic chattel slavery. On 25 March 2026, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a landmark Resolution RES/80/250, which recognised transatlantic chattel slavery as the “gravest crime against humanity”. On 31 August 2026 the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (“CERD”) issued General Recommendation No. 40 focusing on reparations from the perspective of racial discrimination, entitled Reparatory justice for the harms and continuing consequences of colonialism, the trafficking in enslaved Africans across the Atlantic and other routes, and racialized chattel slavery.

Having received the Petition, King Charles will now consider whether to refer the matter to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council for determination. The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council advises the monarch on matters of law. It also acts as the final court of appeal for UK overseas territories and some Commonwealth countries.

Section 4 of the Judicial Committee Act of 1833 confers a special power on the King to refer questions of legal and constitutional importance to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council for their advice. It is this unique jurisdiction that the Jamaican Attorney-General is invoking on behalf of the people of Jamaica.

Doughty Street Chambers says Ulele Burnham is the joint leader of the Court of Protection and Mental Health Team. She is a very experienced advocate in proceedings before the Court of Protection and associated and appellate jurisdictions. She also has significant experience in Equality and Anti-discrimination law.

She is ranked as a Band 1 expert Court of Protection: Health & Welfare practitioner by Chambers and Partners 2026 and Tier 2 by Legal 500 2026. She is described as “one of the top barristers in the Court of Protection. She is clever and incredibly articulate”, and “a force to be reckoned with”. Of her experience and knowledge, commentators say that Ulele is “unmatched”  and that she is ” in a class of her own; her approach to dealing with issues is exceptional.”

She was co-author, (with Aswini Weereratne KC and Alison Gerry) of one of the first practitioner texts on the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (“Butterworth’s New Law Guide to the Mental Capacity Act 2005”, Lexis Nexis, 2008) and therefore has a longitudinal sense of the development of the court’s jurisprudence.