查尔斯国王本周将前往加勒比地区访问，而此访的背景是该地区要求英国为其在奴隶贸易中所扮演的角色支付赔偿的呼声日益高涨。
King Charles heads to Caribbean as calls for slavery reparations grow By Michael Holden LONDON, Oct 27 - King Charles heads to the Caribbean this week on a tour which comes against the backdrop of increasingly vocal demands from the region that Britain pays reparations for its role in the slave trade.
查尔斯与妻子卡米拉王后将首先访问巴哈马和圭亚那，随后前往安提瓜和巴布达出席英联邦政府首脑会议（CHOGM）——这个由他担任元首的国际组织每两年举行一次的聚会。此次访问从10月27日持续至11月4日。
Charles and his wife Queen Camilla will first visit the Bahamas and Guyana, before heading to Antigua and Barbuda for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), the biennial get-together of the international organisation which he heads. The tour runs from October 27 to November 4.
在2022年上一次英联邦领导人会议上——英联邦是由56个国家组成的集团，多为前英国殖民地——查尔斯曾对奴隶制表达了深切的个人悲痛，而这一问题在此次访问中必将再次凸显。
At a previous meeting in 2022 of the leaders of the Commonwealth — a group of 56 nations which were mainly former British colonies — Charles expressed deep personal sorrow over slavery, and the issue is certain to be prominent once again.
上个月，加勒比共同体（CARICOM）表示将推动把赔偿问题列入英联邦政府首脑会议议程。加勒比共同体由23个成员国和准成员国组成，包括巴哈马、巴巴多斯和牙买加。
Last month, CARICOM, the Caribbean Community, a group of 23 member and associate member states which includes the Bahamas, Barbados and Jamaica, said it would push for reparations to be on the CHOGM agenda.
加勒比共同体秘书长卡拉·巴尼特在上个月的一次讲话中说：“加勒比地区一贯主张，赔偿从根本上关乎正义。”
"The Caribbean has consistently asserted that reparations is fundamentally about justice," CARICOM's Secretary-General Carla Barnett said in a speech last month.
“它关乎承认、问责和变革，关乎为那些曾作为殖民者动产而遭受无尽苦难、失去生命和自由的人的后代建设一个公正公平的未来。”白金汉宫表示，国王在此次访问期间不会回避英国参与跨大西洋奴隶贸易的问题，但按照英国政府的政策——该政策也排除支付任何经济赔偿——他不会如一些人所希望的那样对此正式道歉。
"It is about recognition, accountability and transformation, and about building a just and equitable future for the descendants of those who, as the chattel of colonial owners, endured untold suffering, loss of life and freedom." While Buckingham Palace has said the monarch would not shy away from Britain's involvement in the transatlantic slave trade during his tour, he would not formally apologise for it as some have wanted, in keeping with British government policy which also excludes making any financial reparations.
一位王室发言人说：“这里有必要指出国王陛下本人多年来所做的工作，既承认过去的错误，也寻找创造性的方式来纠正持续存在的不平等。”
"It is important to note here the work his majesty himself has done over many years both to acknowledge the wrongs of the past and to find creative ways to right inequalities that endure," a palace spokesperson said.
英联邦秘书长雪莉·博奇韦（Shirley Botchwey）上周表示，现在是时候就赔偿问题展开讨论了，无论是经济赔偿还是文物归还等其他形式的赔偿。该组织涵盖约27亿人口。
Shirley Botchwey, the secretary-general of the Commonwealth, which encompasses some 2.7 billion people, said last week the time had come for discussions about reparations, be they financial or in some other form such as the return of artefacts.
至于英国国王是否应道歉——国王依然是包括巴哈马以及安提瓜和巴布达在内的多个加勒比海国家的国家元首——她在接受天空新闻台（Sky News）采访时表示：“有这样一个道歉也无妨。”从15世纪到19世纪，至少有1250万非洲人被欧洲商人劫持并贩卖为奴，其中英国负责运送了估计320万人口，使其成为仅次于葡萄牙的第二活跃的欧洲国家。
As for an apology from the king, who remains the head of state of a number of Caribbean nations including both the Bahamas and Antigua and Barbuda, she told Sky News: "It wouldn't hurt to have that." From the 15th to the 19th century, at least 12.5 million Africans were abducted and sold into slavery by European merchants, with Britain responsible for transporting an estimated 3.2 million people, making it the second most active European nation after Portugal.