03/26/2026
A United Nations resolution, proposed by Ghana, to recognise transatlantic slavery as the “gravest crime against humanity” and calling for reparations, has been adopted despite pushback from Europe and the United States.
At a UN General Assembly (UNGA) vote on Wednesday, 123 countries supported the resolution, which is not legally binding but carries political weight, while three opposed it, including the US and Israel, and 52 abstained, including the United Kingdom and European Union countries.
Ghana said the resolution was needed because the consequences of slavery, which saw at least 12.5 million Africans abducted and sold between the 15th and 19th centuries, persist today, including racial disparities.
Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama, a key architect of the resolution, said the resolution’s passing was “a route to healing and reparative justice”.
“The adoption of this resolution serves as a safeguard against forgetting … Let it be recorded that when history beckoned, we did what was right for the memory of the millions who suffered the indignity of slavery.”
SOURCE: Al Jazeera
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/25/un-passes-resolution-naming-slave-trade-gravest-crime-against-humanity
