Petition to the President of the Republic of Sierra Leone, Head of State, His Excellency Julius Maada Bio to Launch a Decade of Return Initiative and Provide Citizenship to the Descendants of the People of Sierra Leonean Origin and Afrodescendants Who were taken from their Ancestral Homeland and Enslaved in the Americas
WHEREAS The Dum Diversas Papal Bull issued on June 18, 1452, was the declaration of war that initiated the trafficking of African people which is documented in at least 36,000 voyages listed in the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database; and
WHEREAS it is estimated that 388,770 people, mostly from the Mende, Temne and Limba peoples, were taken from Sierra Leone and enslaved in the Americas and, as a result, there are millions of their descendants in North, South, and Central America and the Caribbean;
RECALLING that approximately 1,200 enslaved Africans, among the thousands who were emancipated and evacuated by the British after the Revolutionary War, repatriated to Sierra Leone in 1791; and
FURTHER RECALLING that Paul Cuffee transported 38 ex-slaves to Sierra Leone in 1815 and 91 more repatriated in 1820; and
AWARE that Sengbe Pieh of the Mende people led a revolt and fought for the freedom and Right of Return of the prisoners of war aboard the Spanish military vessel La Amistad and that the case of the United States v The Libelants and Claimants of the Schooner Amistad (1841) makes clear that
“it is admitted that the African . . . owe no allegiance to (any Nations laws) their rights are to be determined by the law which is of universal obligation - the law of nature. . . a former domicile is not abandoned by residence in another if that residence be not voluntarily chosen. Those who are in exile, or in prison, as they are never presumed to have abandoned all hope of return, retain their former domicile. That these victims of fraud and piracy - husbands torn from their wives and families - children from their parents and kindred - neither intended to abandon the land or their nativity, nor had lost all hope of recovering it, sufficiently appears from the facts on this record.”
FURTHER AWARE that the 1949 Geneva Convention: Article 4 (1) defines prisoners of war and Article 5 states, “the present Convention shall apply to the persons referred to in Article 4 from the time they fall into the power of the enemy and until their final release and repatriation”; and
LAMENTING that Sierra Leone’s Citizenship Act of 1973 Part II Section 5. Citizenship by descent and Section 6. Other category of citizenship did not contemplate the status of the Afrodescendants of Mende, Temne, Limba and other origins and therefore did not include them in the definition of “"person of negro African descent” and left their status unaddressed and unanswered; and
RECALLING that the working paper on desirable results of the 6th Pan African Congress held in 1974 encourages “African and Caribbean states to recognize the principle of dual citizenship for Africans from the west . . . and that special effort be made to facilitate their acquiring of African citizenship”; and
RECALLING that the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights adopted in 1981 states, “Every individual shall have the right to leave any country including his own, and to return to his country”; and
RECALLING that the World Conference Against Racism held in 2001, in its Durban Declaration and Program of Action point 158, called for “facilitation of welcomed return and resettlement of the descendants of enslaved Africans” and point 160 “urges States to take all necessary measures to address, as a matter of urgency, the pressing requirement for justice for the victims of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance and to ensure that victims have full access to information, support, effective protection and national, administrative and judicial remedies, including the right to seek just and adequate reparation or satisfaction for damage, as well as legal assistance, where required”; and point 168 “Urges States that have not yet done so to consider acceding to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 and their two Additional Protocols of 1977, as well as to other treaties of international humanitarian law, and to enact, with the highest priority, appropriate legislation, taking the measures required to give full effect to their obligations under international humanitarian law”; and
RECALLING that the First African Union - Western Hemisphere Diaspora Forum in Washington D.C. in 2002 that “each member state legislate the right of citizenship to members of the Diaspora”; and
HIGHLIGHTING that On February 3-4, 2003, the first Extra-Ordinary Summit of the Assembly of the African Union meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, adopted the historic Article 3(q) that officially, “invite(s) and encourage(s) the full participation of Africans in the Diaspora in the building of the African Union in its capacity as an important part of our Continent.” From this decision, the African Diaspora would become designated as the 6th Region of the African Union”; and
FURTHER RECALLING that in May, 2003, the Executive Council of the African Union met at the Third Extraordinary Session in Sun City, South Africa and issued the "Decision on the Development of the Diaspora Initiative in the African Union". This decision stated, “Discussions during the Washington Forum also offers a picture of some of what the Diaspora may expect - a measure of credible involvement in the policy making processes, some corresponding level of representation, symbolic identification, requirements of dual or honorary citizenship of some sort, moral and political support of Diaspora initiatives in their respective regions, preferential treatment in access to African economic undertakings including consultancies, trade preferences and benefits for entrepreneurs, vis a vis non - Africans, social and political recognition as evident in invitation to Summits and important meetings etc”; and
RECALLING that the African Union Technical Workshop on the Relationship with the Diaspora held in Trinidad in June 2004 recommended that “The AU should consider offering Diaspora federal citizenship options and recommend that the AU establish a task force of distinguished scholars and policy makers to comprehensively study this question and offer policy recommendations to the AU Assembly”; and
RECALLING that the Report of the First Conference of Intellectuals of Africa and the Diaspora held in Senegal in 2004 recommended that, “the African Union should develop a framework for a wider African Citizenship Initiative” and “The African Union Commission should . . . . Develop, in consultation with the Diaspora, proposals for a Bill of Citizenship that establishes rights, entitlements, and duties of African Citizens on the continent and in the Diaspora, including the responsibility of Member States and the African Union”; and
EMPHASIZING that the Declaration of the Global African Diaspora Summit in South Africa in 2012 “agree[s) to set up a Diaspora Advisory Board which will address overarching issues of concern to Africa and its Diaspora such as reparations, right to return and follow up to WCAR plan of action”; and
EMPHASIZING that in 2012 Sierra Leone passed the Geneva Conventions Act act to incorporate the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols into its national law and therefore constructively acknowledges that the un-repatriated descendants of the Mende, Temne, Limba and other prisoners of war taken from their homelands in Sierra Leone retain their former homeland domiciles and are entitled to citizenship in Sierra Leone by virtue of the Sierra Leone Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2006 that defines “person of negro African descent” as “a person whose mother or father and any of the grand parents of the mother or father is or was a Negro of African descent” and Section 10 that states, “10. A citizen of Sierra Leone may hold a citizenship of another country in addition to his citizenship of Sierra Leone”; and
FURTHER EMPHASIZING that the AU 50th Anniversary Solemn Declaration of May 2013 declared, “unflinching belief in our common destiny, our Shared Values and the affirmation of the African identity; the celebration of unity in diversity and the institution of the African citizenship;” and “Consolidating existing commitments and instruments, we undertake, in particular, to: i) Speedily implement the Continental Free Trade Area; ensure free movement of goods, with focus on integrating local and regional markets as well as facilitate African citizenship to allow free movement of people through the gradual removal of visa requirements”; and
MINDFUL of the decision of the Assembly adopted in July 2016 in Kigali, Rwanda (Assembly AU/Dec.607(XXVII) welcoming the launch of the African Passport and urging Member States to adopt the African Passport and to work closely with the African Union Commission to facilitate the processes towards its issuance at the citizen level based on international , continental and citizen policy provisions; and
MINDFUL of the Resolution on Africa’s Reparations Agenda and The Human Rights of Africans In the Diaspora and People of African Descent Worldwide - ACHPR/Res.543 (LXXIII) 2022 that calls upon member states to “take measures to eliminate barriers to acquisition of citizenship and identity documentation by Africans in the diaspora” and “conceptualize reparations from Africa’s perspective, describe the harm occasioned by the tragedies of the past, establish a case for reparations (or Africa’s claim), and pursue justice for the trade and trafficking in enslaved Africans”;
REGRETTING that descendents of the Mende, Temne, Limba and other prisoners of war still living in the land of their ancestors captivity and enslavement are still yet to be repatriated to their ancestral homelands in Sierra Leone as required by Article 5 of the Geneva Convention; and
RESTATING the Pan-Africanist Law of Return: Quintessential Reparations as stated by A. Bernard in Pan-Africanism and Nationality Rights For the Diaspora: A Contemporary Perspective, in Pan-Africanism, African Nationalism: Strengthening the Unity of Africa and its Diaspora edited by B.F. Banke & K. Mchombu, that “At a very basic level, if reparation is to repair the wrongs committed against African peoples through slavery and its apprentices, colonization and imperialism, the first wrong committed was taking millions of peoples from their homeland. Those taken from Africa lost, among other things, their citizenship and this is the first thing that needs to be given back. It is morally and philosophically the first step in the journey of a thousand miles that needs to be undertaken if Africa and African peoples are to move forward in a forceful, positive and determined manner in the 21st Century. Concomitant with this position therefore is that the law of return can only be made possible by African governments/states, not the West. It is to be stated clearly nonetheless, that this is a right, not a concession or special privilege. Diasporan repatriates should not have to prove which part of Africa they are from. The loss of this specific identity is a part of the harm done by slavery, and cannot be used by African governments to reject Diasporans. Any African government which challenges the right to return to Africa for proof of specific identity is in breach of their own claim for compensation for slavery;” and
ENCOURAGED by citizenship initiatives in Ghana, Guinea Bissau and Benin; and
HIGHLIGHTING that on January 5, 2021, Sierra Leone granted citizenship to 22 African Americans and on April 29, 2021, Sierra Leone conferred citizenship on 59 African Americans who traced their origin to Sierra Leone through DNA testing from the company African Ancestry; and
FURTHER HIGHLIGHTING that in early May of 2023, Sierra Leone’s Minister of Tourism and Cultural Affairs, Dr. Memunatu Pratt granted citizenship to 50 African Americans and that it is estimated around 400 people have repatriated and 250 have received citizenship; and
RECALLING the words of Olushegun Adjadi Bakari, Benin’s Minister of Foreign Affairs delivered at the UN General in New York, in September 2024: “People of African descent are not simply distant members of our family. They are our children, our brothers, our sisters. They embody an essential part of our collective identity. By recognizing their right of return, we are saying to them: 'You have never ceased to belong to this land. Africa is your home, and we welcome you with open arms;'” and
CONGRATULATING Sierra Leone for receiving in 2025 a Letter of Commendation from the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights for being second on its list of countries granting citizenship to Afrodescendants, behind Ghana and ahead of Guine Bissau;
NOW COMES the Petitioners on behalf of the 300 million Afrodescendents - people of African origin whose ancestors were trafficked and enslaved in the Americas - declaring the following:
The Constitution of the Republic of Sierra Leone (“Constitution”) affirms in CHAPTER III Section 15 Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms of the Individual and Section 16 Protection of right to life which necessarily extends to all whose retained domicile is Sierra Leone notwithstanding the forced migration and generations of residence outside of Sierra Leone through no fault of their own.
African Ancestry matriclan and patriclan dna testing has identified that all of the Petitioners are of Mende, Temne and Limba origin and, by virtue of war, their ancestors were forcibly trafficked from their domicile in territory now under the jurisdiction of the Republic of Sierra Leone.
United States v The Libelants and Claimants of the Schooner Amistad (1841) confirms Petitioners’ ancestors’ former domicile is not abandoned by residence in another since that residence was not voluntarily chosen.
As such, Petitioners are Mende, Temne and Limba living in alien territory through no fault of their own and represent a Sierra Leonean never contemplated by the Constitution and law of the Republic of Sierra Leone and yet are entitled to protection under the same Constitution.
The Geneva Convention and additional Protocols, incorporated into the national law of Sierra Leone in 2012, maintain that Petitioners are prisoners of war “until their final release and repatriation” and therefore have an immediate, unqualified Right to Return (repatriation) to the territory of their origin in Sierra Leone. This places legal obligations on both Detaining Powers and Protecting Powers.
Petitioners’ Right to Return is consistent with various human rights laws and principles, especially articles 13 and 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as Article 3(q) of the Constitutive Act of the African Union that “Invite(s) and encourage the full participation of Africans in the Diaspora in the building of the African Union in its capacity as an important part of our Continent” and the various African Union decisions and resolutions pertaining to the African Diaspora as its 6th Region.
The Declaration of the 3rd World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, Durban South Africa 2001 acknowledged that slavery and the slave trade, including the transatlantic slave trade, were appalling tragedies in the history of humanity due to the abhorrent barbarism, the magnitude, the organised nature especially in the negation of the essence of the victims and further acknowledge that they are a crime against humanity which should always have been so and the major sources and manifestations of racism, racial discrimination towards Africans and people of African descent.
There are no statutes of limitation on war crimes, crimes of “total war” and crimes against humanity.
Thus, according to natural law and international law, and specifically the Geneva Convention, the descendants of the Mende, Temne and Limba taken from families living in territories now belonging to the Republic of Sierra Leone have the right to return and receive citizenship to their ancestral homeland.
The Republic of Sierra Leone therefore has a spiritual, historical, moral and especially, a LEGAL obligation to draft and pass appropriate legislation that will remedy and satisfy the Right to Return (repatriation) of the people of Mende, Temne and Limba origin who remain as prisoners of war in the Americas and Caribbean.
The Republic of Sierra Leone also has the right to sue for Reparations for war damages from the Detaining Parties under the Geneva Convention that would assist in the reintegration of returnees and the development of Sierra Leone.
THEREFORE, on this _________ day of ___November_______ in the year __2025____; We, the undersigned Petitioners of Mende, Temne and Limba origin:
CALL on the Republic of Sierra Leone to provide for the immediate citizenship of persons showing African Ancestry dna evidence of Mende, Temne and Limba origin following a special naturalization application and process dedicated to this unique class of immigrants that waives the normal requirements for foreigners seeking naturalization.
CALL on the Republic of Sierra Leone to draft and approve legislation that will expedite the granting of citizenship and recognize the dual nationality of the special class of immigrants extended to ALL descendants of the formerly enslaved (“Afrodescendants”) following the example of Benin.
URGE the Republic of Sierra Leone to designate 2021 to 2031 as the Decade of Return Initiative in Sierra Leone implementing a new Right to Return Citizenship program.
Signed:
PETITIONERS