UN declares transatlantic slave trade a crime against humanity, demands reparations

The United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday passed a resolution declaring the trafficking of enslaved Africans “the gravest crime against humanity” and calling for reparations as “a concrete step towards remedying historical wrongs”.

It also urges “the prompt and unhindered restitution” of cultural items to their countries of origin without charge. This includes artworks, monuments, museum pieces, documents, and national archives.

In a move advocates hailed as a step towards healing, the resolution was adopted to applause by a vote of 123 in favour and three against – the United States, Israel, and Argentina.

Fifty-two countries abstained, including Britain and European Union member states.

The resolution was tabled by Ghana, led by President John Mahama, who was at the United Nations headquarters in New York to support the vote.

"Today, we come together in solemn solidarity to affirm truth and pursue a route to healing and reparative justice. The adoption of this resolution serves as a safeguard against forgetting," he said.

Despite being non-binding, the resolution goes beyond simple acknowledgment and asks nations involved in the slave trade to engage in restorative justice.

It also highlights the legacy of slavery via "the persistence of racial discrimination and neo-colonialism" in today's society.

"The transatlantic slave trade was a crime against humanity that struck at the core of personhood, broke up families, and devastated communities," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.

"To justify the unjustifiable, slavery's proponents and beneficiaries constructed a racist ideology -- turning prejudice into a pseudoscience."

Ghana's Minister of Foreign Affairs Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said the resolution sends a very clear message that the international community will no longer tolerate impunity.

“That the international community stands for justice, that the international community and our multilateral system we have erected, no matter how long it takes, the day of reckoning will come," he said after the vote.

Washington has described the text as "highly problematic."

"The United States also does not recognise a legal right to reparations for historical wrongs that were not illegal under international law at the time they occurred," said US ambassador Dan Negrea.

"The United States also strongly objects to the resolution's attempt to rank crimes against humanity in any type of hierarchy," he added.

Britain and EU countries advanced similar arguments while acknowledging the wrongs of slavery.

The resolution "risks pitting historical tragedies against each other that should not be compared, except at the expense of the memory of the victims," said French representative Sylvain Fournel.

Ahead of the vote, Ablakwa dismissed criticism that the text sought to rank human suffering and alleged that some nations had refused to acknowledge their crimes.

"The perpetrators of the transatlantic slave trade are known, the Europeans, the United States of America. We expect all of them to formally apologise to Africa and to all people of African descent," he said.

Between 1500 and 1800, around 12 to 15 million people were captured in Africa and taken to the Americas where they were forced to work as slaves.

It is estimated that over two million people died on the journey.