As Member States commemorated the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade on Wednesday (March 25), the United Nations adopted, with overwhelming support, a resolution recognizing the transatlantic slave trade as “the gravest crime against humanity.” The resolution, proposed by Ghana on behalf of the African States, was adopted with 123 votes in favor and 3 against—the United States, Israel, and Argentina, while 52 Member States, mainly from Europe, abstained.
In 2006, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), through resolution 61/19, recognized that “the slave trade and slavery are among the worst violations of human rights in the history of humanity,” bearing in mind particularly their scale and duration. It also designated 25 March 2007 as the International Day for the Commemoration of the Two-Hundredth Anniversary of the Abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. The following year, through resolution 62/122, the Assembly designated 25 March as the annual International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, beginning in 2008.
The current resolution calls for the transatlantic slave trade to be designated as the gravest crime against humanity and urges Member States to consider issuing apologies for the slave trade and contributing to a reparations fund. The President of the General Assembly (PGA) underscored that “the slave trade and slavery stand among the gravest violations of human rights in human history—an affront to the very principles enshrined in the Charter of our United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”
Between 1500 and 1800, around 12–15 million people were captured in Africa and transported to the Americas, where they were forced into slavery. An unaccounted number of African youth estimated to exceed 2 million perished under the horrific conditions at sea. The resolution, backed by the African Union and the Caribbean Community, further states that the consequences of slavery persist in the form of racial inequalities and underdevelopment, “affecting Africans and people of African descent in all parts of the world.”
Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama, speaking ahead of the vote on behalf of the 54-member African Group, the largest regional bloc at the United Nations, proclaimed: “Today, we come together in solemn solidarity to affirm truth and pursue a route to healing and reparative justice.” He further added, “Let it be recorded that when history beckoned, we did what was right for the memory of the millions who suffered the indignity of the slave trade and those who continue to suffer racial discrimination.”
The resolution also calls for the return of cultural artefacts looted during the transatlantic slave trade and the colonial era to their countries of origin. Ethiopia, through a statement delivered by its Representative in New York, joined the international community in solemn remembrance of the millions of African men, women, and children subjected to the horrors of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade. Ambassador Samuel Isa emphasized that “the transatlantic slave trade and colonialism represent two of history’s most extensive crimes against humanity, leaving legacies that continue to adversely influence the contemporary socioeconomic landscape and development trajectory for Africa and people of African descent.”
Those countries that opposed the resolution argued that it is not legally justified, as slavery did not constitute a prohibited act under the rules that existed at the time. They also proffered there is no evidence showing the relationship between the victims of slavery and the people of Africa and that of African descent. The African Group at the United Nations, however, maintains that the victims of chattel slavery of African people and their descendants are alive and continue to suffer from the consequences of the enslavement of their ancestors and the systemic racism that continued to date. The Group also affirmed that slavery constitutes the gravest crime against humanity and a violation of “Jus cogens”. It expressed its commitment to working with all UN Member States to address the enduring realities of slavery, colonialism, and racism.
Ethiopia demanded commemoration to go beyond retrospective remembrance to serve as a call to confront the living consequences with courage. For Ethiopia, the adoption of this landmark UNGA resolution is an acknowledgement of its anti-colonial and anti-slavery struggle that has become the hallmark of its pan Africana and human centered foreign policy and diplomacy.