The United Nations General Assembly is expected to vote on Wednesday on a new resolution that will officially describe the transatlantic African slave trade as “the gravest crime against humanity.” Supporters say this move is an important step toward justice and healing.
The resolution is not just about recognising the past. It also asks countries that were involved in the slave trade to take part in efforts to repair the damage, including actions linked to justice and reconciliation.
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Ghana’s President, John Mahama, visited the United Nations to support what he called a “historic” step. Speaking on Tuesday, he said the resolution will help the world remember the suffering of more than 12.5 million Africans who were taken from their homes over 400 years.
He said, “It allows us as a global community to collectively bear witness to the plight of more than 12.5 million men, women and children, whose homes, communities, names, families, hopes, dreams, futures and lives were stolen from them over the course of 400 years.”
Mahama also described the resolution as a way to prevent people from forgetting history. He criticised recent actions in the United States where some books about slavery and racism are being banned, saying this stops people from learning the truth.
The draft resolution clearly states that the slave trade and the enslavement of Africans should be recognised as the gravest crime against humanity. It also points out that the effects of slavery are still seen today through racial discrimination and forms of neo-colonialism.
Amma Adomaa Twum-Amoah of the African Union said it is important to clearly name these actions for what they are. She explained that slavery was not an accident but the result of planned actions, and its impact still affects inequality today.
She said, “To name these atrocities clearly is to remove the last veils of ambiguity from the historical record.”
She added, “It is to say that what was done to Africans was not a tragic accident of history, but the result of deliberate policies whose legacies structure today’s inequalities. Justice begins with calling things by their proper names.”
The resolution also calls for restorative justice. Ghana’s Foreign Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, said countries responsible for the slave trade, including European nations and the United States, should apologise.
He said, “We expect all of them to formally apologize to Africa and to all people of African descent.”
He also suggested that stolen cultural items should be returned to Africa and that institutions should continue to address racism. He added that compensation could also be considered.
Some countries have raised concerns that calling the slave trade the “gravest crime” might suggest that other forms of suffering are less important.
However, Ablakwa rejected this idea. He said the resolution is not about comparing suffering.
He said, “We are not ranking suffering when we say that the transatlantic slave trade represents a ‘gravest crime against humanity,’ it is not to introduce a hierarchy.”
He added, “What we are saying is that if you look at all of the atrocities that have happened in the history of humanity, none have been this systemic, this prolonged, over 300 years, and the lingering consequences of that.”
He concluded, “We are not ranking pain. We are not saying that our pain should be valued more than your pain.”