Africa-Press. Ghana is seeking United Nations recognition of the African slave trade as “the most serious crime against humanity,” in a historic step aimed at firmly embedding this dark era in international awareness.
Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama announced that his country will submit a formal resolution to the UN General Assembly next March to classify the African slave trade as the most heinous crime against humanity.
Speaking at the close of the African Union’s annual summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital, Mahama said the initiative “is only the first step,” adding: “We believe that through the consultations we have held and with the support of the African Union, the truth will finally be acknowledged: the transatlantic slave trade was the greatest injustice and the greatest crime against humanity.”
The president explained that the draft resolution to be presented to UN member states is titled: “Declaration on the Slave Trade of Enslaved Africans and Their Racialized Enslavement, Constituting the Most Serious Crime Against Humanity.” He stressed that adopting the resolution “will not erase history, but it will acknowledge it.”
The slave trade of enslaved Africans and forms of racially based slavery are core issues that helped shape the modern world, and their effects persist today in the form of structural inequality, racial discrimination, and economic disparity.
In this context, Mahama emphasized: “If the past cannot be changed, it can be acknowledged,” noting that the move is part of broader efforts to restore dignity to victims and bring obscured historical truths to light.
Cape Coast Castle in Ghana—an быв former colonial trading hub that played a pivotal role in the slave trade—stands as a witness to that era. It was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979. Former Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo called in November 2023 for a united front to demand reparations for the transatlantic slave trade and the harms left by the colonial period.
The transatlantic slave trade organized the trafficking of millions of people from West and Central Africa to the New World, making it one of the largest organized crimes in human history.
Mahama, who said he is coordinating with CARICOM countries (the Caribbean Community), stressed that the goal “is not limited to financial reparations, but is about restoring historical truth.”
He added: “Our aim now is to present the resolution to the UN General Assembly so that the world recognizes these atrocities occurred, and that there was no greater injustice against humanity in modern or global history than the slave trade.”
He concluded by affirming that “adopting this resolution will not erase history, but it will acknowledge it and restore recognition to millions of victims whose suffering was obscured for decades.”
