Haiti Demands Millions in Reparations from France

Haiti’s Interim Presidential Council President, Edgar Leblanc Fils, has called on France to pay millions in reparations for the indemnity Haiti was forced to pay to France in the 19th century as a condition for its independence.

In a speech delivered at the United Nations, Leblanc Fils emphasized that this hefty financial burden stunted Haiti’s development for generations.

He urged France to acknowledge its moral and historical debt to the Haitian people and to provide compensation for the long-standing impact of the forced payments.

"Now is the time to return all the money," Leblanc Fils stated, while also noting that Haiti's National Commission for Restitution and Reparations is working on this issue alongside the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

After two centuries of French colonial rule, Haiti gained its independence in 1804 following a successful revolution led by its people, most of whom were enslaved.

Despite losing the war, France imposed a crushing financial demand on the newly independent nation. This indemnity, meant to compensate French colonists for lost assets, severely crippled Haiti's economy for decades.

Haiti had been an essential part of the French economy in the 17th and 18th centuries, playing a major role in the transatlantic slave trade. The island generated 40% of France’s foreign trade revenue, primarily from sugar, tobacco, and coffee plantations worked by enslaved laborers.

In 1791, Haiti’s enslaved population revolted, exploiting the internal political turmoil in France that followed the 1789 revolution. The Haitian Revolution, culminating in 1804, led to Haiti becoming the first independent Black republic.

However, France retaliated by forcing Haiti to pay an indemnity of 150 million francs in 1825—equivalent to billions today—to compensate former slave owners.

This debt, enforced by French naval power under King Charles X, devastated Haiti’s economy, plunging the once-prosperous island into deep poverty, a situation from which it has never fully recovered. Historians consider this indemnity one of the key reasons behind Haiti’s enduring economic struggles.