The United Nations General Assembly voted to recognise the slave trade as “the gravest crime against humanity”, a move advocates hope will pave the way for healing and justice.
The resolution – proposed by Ghana – called for this designation, while also urging UN member states to consider apologising for the slave trade and contributing to a reparations fund. It does not mention a specific amount of money.
The proposal was adopted with 123 votes in favour and three against – the United States, Israel and Argentina.
Fifty-two countries abstained, including the United Kingdom and European Union member states.
Countries like the UK have long rejected paying reparations, saying today’s institutions cannot be held responsible for past wrongs.
Before the vote, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Ghana’s foreign minister, told the BBC’s Newsday programme: “We are demanding compensation – and let us be clear, African leaders are not asking for money for themselves.
“We want justice for the victims and causes to be supported, educational and endowment funds, skills training funds.”
The campaign for reparations has gained significant momentum in recent years – “reparatory justice” was the African Union’s official theme for 2025 and Commonwealth leaders have jointly called for dialogue on the matter.
Ablakwa also said that, with the resolution, Ghana was not ranking its pain above anyone else’s, but simply documenting a historical fact.
Between 1500 and 1800, around 12-15 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.
The resolution, backed by the African Union and the Caribbean Community, states that the consequences of slavery persist in the form of racial inequalities and underdevelopment “affecting Africans and people of African descent in all parts of the world”. Ablakwa told the BBC: “Many generations continue to suffer the exclusion, the racism because of the transatlantic slave trade which has left millions separated from the continent and impoverished.”Ghana, one of the main gateways for the trade, has long been a leading advocate for reparations.
Forts, where tens of thousands of enslaved Africans were once held under inhuman conditions, remain standing along the West African country’s coast.
The resolution also calls for cultural artefacts stolen during the colonial era to be returned to their countries of origin.
“We want a return of all those looted artefacts, which represent our heritage, our culture and our spiritual significance. All those artefacts looted for many centuries into the colonial era ought to be returned,” Ablakwa said.
Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama told the UN on Tuesday that the resolution was “historic” and “a safeguard against forgetting”.
He also criticised Donald Trump’s administration for “normalising the erasure of black history”.
Since returning to power, the US president has targeted American cultural and historical institutions for promoting what he calls “anti-American ideology”.
Trump’s orders have led to moves such as the restoration of Confederate statues and an attempt to dismantle a slavery exhibit in Philadelphia.
“These policies are becoming a template for other governments as well as some private institutions,” Mahama said.
By BBC News
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