By Catarina Demony
A resolution proposed by Ghana at the UN on Wednesday to recognise transatlantic slavery as the “gravest crime against humanity” and calling for reparations has been adopted despite resistance from Europe and the US.
Ghana said the resolution was needed because the consequences of slavery, which saw at least 12.5-million Africans taken and sold between the 15th and 19th centuries, persist today, including racial disparities.
At a UN General Assembly vote, 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 EU and Britain.
Ghana’s foreign minister, Samuel Ablakwa, said the resolution called for accountability.
Ghana, which had a central role in the slave trade, has sought justice for descendants and called for reparations for decades.
Justin Hansford, a law professor at Howard University, said the resolution was significant as it represented the furthest the UN has gone in recognising transatlantic slavery as a crime against humanity and in calling for reparations.
“This marks the first vote on the floor of the UN,” Hansford said. “I cannot overemphasise how large of a step that is.”
UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres told the General Assembly that “far bolder action” was required from more states to confront historical injustices. The Netherlands remains the only European country to have issued a formal apology for its role in slavery.
The resolution marks a new step in Africa’s efforts to seek accountability for historical injustices by former colonial powers after the AU last year set out to create a “unified vision” among its 55 member states on what reparations may look like.
It urges member states to engage in dialogue on reparations, including issuing formal apologies, returning stolen artefacts, providing financial compensation, and ensuring guarantees of non-repetition.
While longstanding calls for reparations have gained momentum in recent years, there is also a growing backlash.
Several Western leaders have opposed even discussing the subject, with critics arguing today’s states and institutions should not be held responsible for historical wrongs.
EU and US raise concerns
Both the EU and the US voiced concerns the resolution could imply a hierarchy among crimes against humanity, treating some as more serious than others.
Historian Babatunde Mesewaku, speaking in Badagry, a coastal town in Nigeria that served as a major slavery port, said that, in his view, it was the gravest crime against humanity, given its length of more than 500 years, the tens of millions who were taken — along with those who died in the Middle Passage — resulting in the destruction and stagnation in Africa and beyond.
US representative Dan Negrea said his country objected to the “cynical usage of historical wrongs as a leverage point ... to reallocate modern resources to people and nations who are distantly related to the historical victims”.
The EU representative, Gabriella Michaelidou, said the bloc would have supported a resolution highlighting the “scale of the atrocity” but raised “legal and factual” concerns, including applying international law retroactively.
Ghana has also faced criticism for advocating justice for past wrongs on the world stage while simultaneously pushing for stricter anti-LGBT laws at home.
African and Caribbean nations have been seeking to establish a special UN reparations tribunal, and Ablakwa said the resolution could pave the way for a “reparative framework”.
“History does not disappear when ignored, truth does not weaken when delayed, crime does not rot... and justice does not expire with time,” Ablakwa said.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.