King Charles tells summit the past can't be changed as leaders ask Britain to reckon with slavery

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — King Charles III told a summit of Commonwealth countries in Samoa on Friday that the past could not be changed as he indirectly acknowledged calls from some of Britain’s former colonies for a reckoning over its role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

The British royal understood “the most painful aspects of our past continue to resonate," he told leaders in Apia. But Charles stopped short of mentioning financial reparations that some leaders at the event have urged and instead exhorted them to find the “right language” and an understanding of history “to guide us towards making the right choices in future where inequality exists."

“None of us can change the past but we can commit with all our hearts to learning its lessons and to finding creative ways to right the inequalities that endure," said Charles, who is attending his first Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, or CHOGM, as Britain's head of state.

His remarks at the summit's official opening ceremony echoed comments a day earlier by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer that the meeting should avoid becoming mired in the past and “very, very long endless discussions about reparations.” The U.K. leader dismissed calls from Caribbean countries for leaders at the biennial event to explicitly discuss redress for Britain’s role in the slave trade and mention the matter in its final joint statement.

But Britain's handling of its involvement in the trans-Atlantic slave trade is seen by many observers as a litmus test for the Commonwealth's adaptation to a modern-day world, as other European nations and some British institutions have started to own up to their role in the trade.

“I think the time has come for this to be taken seriously,” said Jacqueline McKenzie, a partner at London law firm Leigh Day. “Nobody expects people to pay every single penny for what happened. But I think there needs to be negotiations."

Such a policy would be costly and divisive at home, McKenzie said.

The U.K. has never formally apologized for its role in the trade, in which millions of African citizens were kidnapped and transported to plantations in the Caribbean and Americas over several centuries, enriching many individuals and companies. Studies estimate Britain would owe between hundreds of millions and trillions of dollars in compensation to descendants of slaves.

The Bahamas Prime Minister Philip Davis on Thursday said he wanted a “frank” discussion with Starmer about the matter and would seek mention of the reparations issue in the leaders' final statement at the event. All three candidates to be the next Commonwealth Secretary-General — from Gambia, Ghana and Lesotho — have endorsed policies of reparatory justice for slavery.

Starmer said Thursday in remarks to reporters that the matter would not be on the summit’s agenda. But Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland told The Associated Press in an interview that leaders “will speak about absolutely anything they want to speak about" at an all-day private meeting scheduled for Saturday.

King Charles said in Friday's speech that nothing would right inequality “more decisively than to champion the principle that our Commonwealth is one of genuine opportunity for all.” The monarch urged leaders to "choose within our Commonwealth family the language of community and respect, and reject the language of division.”

He has expressed “sorrow” over slavery at a CHOGM summit before, in 2022, and last year endorsed a probe into the monarchy’s ties to the industry.

Charles — who is battling cancer — and his wife, Queen Camilla, will return to Britain tomorrow after visiting Samoa and Australia — where his presence prompted a lawmaker's protest over his country's colonial legacy.

He acknowledged Friday that the Commonwealth had mattered “a great deal” his late mother Queen Elizabeth II, who was seen as a unifying figure among the body's at times disparate and divergent states.

The row over reparations threatened to overshadow a summit that Pacific leaders — and the Commonwealth secretariat — hoped would focus squarely on the ruinous effects of climate change.

“We are well past believing it is a problem for the future since it is already undermining the development we have long fought for,” the king said Friday. “This year alone we have seen terrifying storms in the Caribbean, devastating flooding in East Africa and catastrophic wildfires in Canada. Lives, livelihood and human rights are at-risk across the Commonwealth.”

Charles offered “every encouragement for action with unequivocal determination to arrest rising temperatures” by cutting emissions, building resilience, and conserving and restoring nature on land and at sea, he said.

Samoa is the first Pacific Island nation to host the event, and Prime Minister Fiamē Naomi Mata'afa said in a speech Friday that it was “a great opportunity for all to experience our lived reality, especially with climate change," which was “the greatest threat to the survival and security of our Pacific people."

Two dozen small island nations are among CHOGM's 56 member states, among them the world’s most imperiled by rising seas. Her remarks came as the United Nations released a stark new report warning that the world was on pace for significantly more warming than expected without immediate climate action.

The population of the member nations of the 75-year-old Commonwealth organization totals 2.7 billion people.

Britain's King Charles III, right, shakes hands with Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer at a reception the King is hosting for for heads of government and spouses/partners attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Apia, Samoa, on Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (Samoa CHOGM 2024/Pool Photo via AP)

CHOGM Secretary General Patricia Scotland, right, talks to Britain's King Charles III, center, during the opening ceremony for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Apia, Samoa, on Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/William West, Pool)

Britain's King Charles III, center, watches as dancers perform during the opening ceremony for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Apia, Samoa, on Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/William West, Pool)

Britain's King Charles and CHOGM Secretary General Patricia Scotland talk during the opening ceremony for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Apia, Samoa, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft/Pool)

Britain's King Charles, centre, stands with delegates during the opening ceremony for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Apia, Samoa, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft/Pool)

Britain's King Charles stands with the delegates for a family photo during the opening ceremony for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Apia, Samoa, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft/Pool)

Prime Minister of the Bahamas Philip Davis arrives for the opening ceremony for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Apia, Samoa, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft, Pool)

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, left, and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese react during the opening ceremony for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Apia, Samoa, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft/Pool)

Britain's King Charles addresses the opening ceremony for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Apia, Samoa, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft/Pool)

Britain's King Charles and CHOGM Secretary General Patricia Scotland talk during the opening ceremony for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Apia, Samoa, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft/Pool)

Dancers perform during the opening ceremony for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Apia, Samoa, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft/Pool)

Britain's King Charles watches as dancers perform during the opening ceremony for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Apia, Samoa, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft/Pool)

Britain's King Charles and Samoan Prime Minister Afioga Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa, left, watch dancers perform during the opening ceremony for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Apia, Samoa, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft/Pool)

Britain's King Charles watches dancers perform during the opening ceremony for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Apia, Samoa, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft/Pool)

Britain's King Charles and Samoan Prime Minister Afioga Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa, left, talk during the opening ceremony for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Apia, Samoa, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft/Pool)

JOYA-LA BARRETA ECOLOGICAL PARK, Mexico (AP) — As night descended, a rumble of frogs filled the air in this park outside the central Mexican city of Queretaro. In the sky, tiny stars appeared one by one, aligning into constellations.

Juan Carlos Hernández used his weight to adjust a large telescope. “Aim for me, Rich!” he yelled to his friend. Ricardo Soriano focused a green laser on a small patch of clouds, targeting where the Tsuchinshan-Atlas comet will soon be visible.

Hernández and other amateur astronomers worked to certify Joya-La Barreta Ecological Park last year as the first urban night sky space in Latin America by DarkSky International, an organization working to educate the public about the harm of indiscriminate lighting.

The park sitting at about 8,520 feet (2,600 meters) above sea level on the outskirts of Queretaro gives unobstructed access to the night sky. While over 200 dark sky places exist globally, Joya-La Barreta park is only one of 11 in areas that are considered urban. Its dark sky status is under constant threat, however, from increasing light pollution and urbanization.

Hernández, who just turned 40, has advocated relentlessly for the night sky for more than 20 years.

The president of Queretaro’s Astronomical Society and one of the founders of the stargazing tourism agency Astronite, the aerospace engineer by day has been chasing dark areas to observe the stars since he can remember.

“In 2014 you could see Omega (Centauri) sitting in the sky just above the city,” he said of a constellation over 17,000 light years away. “Today it’s unimaginable.”

A 2023 study that analyzed data from more than 50,000 amateur stargazers found that artificial lighting is making the night sky across the world about 10% brighter each year. As of 2016, more than 80% of the world lived under light-polluted skies.

Studies in Mexico show that increased urbanization and the need for city lighting in relation to security issues have caused more light contamination.

Fernando Ávila Castro of the Institute of Astronomy at the National Autonomous University of Mexico said a good analogy to explain light pollution is noise pollution.

“We constantly hear traffic noise from the street, but past a certain level that intensity becomes annoying, it doesn’t let you rest,” he said. “The same thing happens with light. Especially because all living beings have this internal clock, the circadian rhythm, which depends on the external values of light.”

“When we go to sleep, we forget that an entire world remains active,” Castro said.

The moon and stars are the light source guiding nocturnal activity for plants and animals — determining when animals emerge from hiding to find food, when plants reproduce and when certain animal species migrate. Artificial light has boomed since the industrial revolution in the 19th century, with efficient, affordable LEDs the latest type in wide use.

“There’s also this whole part about the biodiversity,” Analette Casazza, president of another Queretaro astronomy association, said while standing under the stars Saturday night. “We can hear the singing from all the animals that live here (in Joya-La Barreta). A lot of these pollinating animals, their activity is at night.”

Joya-La Barreta park hosts 123 species of vertebrates.

“The real challenge we have is to get citizens involved,” said María Guadalupe Espinosa de los Reyes Ayala, Queretaro's environment secretary. “When people arrive at a place like this and realize how much it has to offer, they see the need to protect and conserve it.”

Hernández and other astronomy activists continue to fight to conserve the park’s nocturnal conditions and pass state regulations to reduce light pollution.

Hernández is also fighting for the enforcement of Mexico’s General Law of Ecological Balance, passed in 2021.

The law provides general recommendations to minimize light pollution. It’s been recognized in certain Mexican states like Sonora, Baja California and Hidalgo to protect observatories and professional astronomical observations. However in Queretaro, Hernández submitted an amendment to the state congress in 2023 to apply the regulations, but hasn’t had any luck.

Three times a year, the citizen astronomers at Joya-La Barreta have to submit light pollution reports to DarkSky. Increased light pollution levels or a lack of visitors to the park for astronomical activities can put their certification at risk. For Ricardo Soriano, another founder of Astronite, it’s a constant cause for concern.

“If contamination continues to grow and the government doesn’t support us, and doesn’t do more to see more beyond our certification, then we can lose it,” Soriano said. “We’ll have to leave Queretaro to try to find another park like this. I hope they can see it as something important for the state and community.”

On Saturday, as the comet came into focus, 10-year-old Matti González, accompanied by his parents Antonio González and Brenda Estrella, burst into a smile looking through his telescope.

“What are you going to dress up as for Halloween?” González asked his son. “An astronaut!” Matti yelled.

Throughout the night, Hernandez ran back and forth between attendees with a red headlight guiding his path. He explained certain celestial bodies or helped focus a scope on Saturn’s rings. Pausing for a moment, he thought about Carl Sagan, and how the astronomer said the same elements that form in the final gasps of a dying star — hydrogen, oxygen, carbon — are elements found in our bodies today.

“Looking at the sky is the most spiritual experience there can be,” Hernández said excitedly. “It’s the connection to our true molecular origins, but also to our cosmic destiny.”

Looking up at the stars, he said: “For me, the most important thing is that the future generations know that a resource their grandparents had is being lost.”

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

People take photos of the sky at a stargazing and comet-watching gathering at Joya-La Barreta Ecological Park in Queretaro, Mexico, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme)

People attend a stargazing and comet-watching gathering at Joya-La Barreta ecological park in Queretaro, Mexico, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme)

Ricardo Soriano, with a green laser, points at the sky during a stargazing and comet-watching gathering at Joya-La Barreta ecological park in Queretaro, Mexico, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme)

Photographer David Garcia adjusts his camera as he attends a stargazing and comet-watching gathering at Joya-La Barreta ecological park in Queretaro, Mexico, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme)

A youth looks through a telescope during a stargazing and comet-watching gathering at Joya-La Barreta Ecological Park in Queretaro, Mexico, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme)

Frank Medina, left, and Juan Carlos Hernandez, center, arrange telescopes before attending a stargazing and comet-watching gathering at Joya-La Barreta ecological park in Queretaro, Mexico, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme)

Juan Carlos Hernandez, the president of Queretaro’s Astronomical Society, sets up a telescope before a stargazing and comet-watching gathering at Joya-La Barreta Ecological Park in Queretaro, Mexico, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme)