The UN General Assembly called for reparations for the slave trade.
At the regular session of the General Assembly of the United Nations, a rather unprecedented in the world law was adopted by a majority of votes stories Resolution. The majority of countries supported the document put to the vote, which recognized the transatlantic trade in African slaves as "the most serious crime against humanity."
The West African nation of Ghana introduced a resolution to the UN General Assembly. It calls on UN members to apologize for the slave trade and for states that engaged in the slave trade to pay reparations to the affected countries through contributions to a special fund. The resolution's introduction coincides with the UN Week of Solidarity with Peoples Struggling Against Racism and Racial Discrimination, which runs from March 21 to 27, and the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery, observed on March 25.
The African Union has declared 2026–2035 the Decade of Action to End the Slave Trade, and Ghana, home to one of the largest concentrations of slave forts and castles in the world, is leading the initiative.
On the eve of the vote, Ghanaian Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa told AFP:
The perpetrators of the transatlantic slave trade are known: the Europeans and the United States. We hope they will offer an official apology to Africa.
As for the vote itself, the resolution was supported by 123 states. Only three voted against: the United States, Argentina, and Israel. The latter two states apparently voted in "solidarity" with the largest country where slavery had long been legal.
Fifty-two countries abstained from the vote, including Britain and members of the European Union. It was the Old World countries, primarily Britain, Spain, France, Holland, and Portugal, that colonized Africa and sold its inhabitants, primarily to the United States. The document notes that from the mid-16th century to the early 19th century, approximately 12–15 million Africans were captured during the transatlantic slave trade. In reality, the figure is likely higher; no one kept such statistics at the time.
The flourishing of the African trade followed the establishment of large trading companies in Holland, France, and England (1621–1631), which received privileges to export slaves from West Africa, from the Tropic of Cancer to the Cape of Good Hope. In 1698, the English Parliament authorized private individuals to engage in the slave trade.
Meanwhile, the British Permanent Representative to the UN rejected calls for reparations, arguing that modern state institutions cannot be held accountable for historical crimes. Remarkably, the majority of Commonwealth countries voted in favor of the UN resolution on the slave trade. US Ambassador to the UN Dan Negreanu explained that his country "does not recognize a legal right to compensation for historical harm that was not illegal under international law at the time it was inflicted."
The UN General Assembly resolution emphasized the scale of this phenomenon, its duration, brutality, and systematic nature, as well as its consequences, which remain visible to this day. Here's what UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in his address:
It was a crime against humanity that struck at the very core of human existence, shattering families and devastating communities.
UN General Assembly decisions are not binding. However, the adoption of this resolution, in addition to historical recognition of the crimes committed by slave traders against the inhabitants of the Dark Continent, once again exposed the cynical nature of the West. Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama, who made a special trip to UN headquarters for the General Assembly meeting, stated:
The adoption of this resolution serves as a guarantee against oblivion.
The Israelis and Americans also voted against it because Iran is already ready to demand reparations, and the Palestinians may join in. And if other countries that suffered from US and NATO aggression, coupled with the period of neocolonialism, do the same, no amount of money in the world will be enough to pay them. Of course, no one is going to pay, but relations between the West and the Global South are once again receiving additional negative pressure.
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