Applause erupted in the UN General Assembly Hall on Wednesday as Member States adopted a resolution declaring the transatlantic slave trade the gravest crime against humanity.
Governments, academia and other stakeholders must double down on delivering reparatory justice for people from the African diaspora, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, said ina reportpublished on Wednesday.
Theresolutionspearheaded byGhanareceived 123votes in favour.Three countriesArgentina,Israeland the United States voted againstand 52 abstained.
Today, we come together in solemn solidarity to affirm truth and pursue a route to healing and reparative justice,saidGhanasPresident John Dramani Mahama, speakingahead of thevoteon behalf of the54-memberAfrican Group the largest regional bloc at the UN.
UN Photo/Manuel ElasPresident John Mahama of Ghana addresses the UN General Assembly on the International Day of Remembrance of Victims of Slavery and Transatlantic Slave Trade.Stolen, shackled, shipped
For more than 400 years, millions of people were stolen from Africa, put inshacklesand shipped to the New World to toil in cotton fields and sugar and coffee plantations under scorching heat and the crack of the whip.
Denied their basic humanity and even their own names,theywereforced to endure generations of exploitation with repercussions that reverberate todayincluding persistent anti-Black racism and discrimination.
The resolution emphasisedthe trafficking of enslaved Africans and racialised chattel enslavement of Africans asthe gravest crime against humanityby reason of the definitive break in world history, scale, duration, systemic nature, brutality and enduring consequences that continue to structure the lives of all people through racialized regimes of labour, property and capital.
UN News/Elizabeth ScaffidiA slavery memorial in Stone Town, Zanzibar, United Republic of Tanzania.Address wrongs, support reparations
It affirmed the importance of addressing historical wrongs affecting Africans and people ofthe diasporain a manner that promotes justice, human rights,dignityandhealing, while emphasising thatclaims for reparationsrepresenta concrete step towards remedy.
The text was highly problematic in countless respects, Ambassador Dan Negrea, US representative to the UNEconomic and Social Council(ECOSOC), said prior to the vote.
He regretted that Washington must once again remind this body that the United Nations exists to maintain international peace and security and was not founded to advance narrow specific interests and agendas, to establish niche International Days,or to create newcostly meeting and reporting mandates.
Furthermore, the US does not recognise a legal right to reparations for historical wrongs that were not illegal under international law at the time they occurred.
A grave human rights violation
The horrors of slavery echoed in the General Assembly HallasMember Statescommemoratedthe International Dayto remember its victims.
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 Nationsand theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights,themselves born, in part, from these injustices of the past,saidAssembly President Annalena Baerbock.
The countries where enslaved Africans were taken from also suffered a hollowing outhaving lostentire generations whopotentially could have helped them to prosper.
It was, to put it in colder terms,mass resource extraction, shesaid.
Remove persistent barriers
UNSecretary-General Antnio Guterrescalled forconfronting slaverys lasting legacies of inequality and racism.
Now we must remove the persistent barriers that prevent so many people of African descent from exercising their rights and realising their potential, he said.
We must commit fully and without hesitation to human rights, equality, and the inherent worth of every person.
In this regard,the Second International Decade for People of African Descentandthe African Unions Decade of Reparations are significant.
Respect for African countries
He urged countries to use them to drive action to eradicate systemic racism, ensure reparatory justice and accelerate inclusive development,marked byequal access to education, health, employment, housing, and a safe environment.
Butfar bolder actions by many more States are needed, he added.
This includes commitments to respect African countries ownership of their own natural resources.And steps to ensure their equal participation and influence in the global financial architecture and the UNSecurity Council.
No peace withoutreparatoryjustice
The Poet Laureate of Barbados, Esther Philips, read from some of her works including a piece about a young girl walking on the grounds of a formersugarplantationand not understanding its historical significanceasher ancestors buried there watch on.
There are spirits of the victims of slavery present in this room at this moment, and they are listening for one word only: justice, Ms. Philips told delegates.
Because for them and for the world, there can be no peace without justicereparatory justiceand that call is answered only when words are turned into action.The question is, what will you do?
UN Photo/Manuel ElasPresident John Mahama of Ghana addresses the UN General Assembly on the International Day of Remembrance of Victims of Slavery and Transatlantic Slave Trade.UN News/Elizabeth ScaffidiA slavery memorial in Stone Town, Zanzibar, United Republic of Tanzania.
