Ghana to Table UN Resolution Declaring Transatlantic Slave Trade as Gravest Crime Against Humanity
Ghana has declared its intention to present a resolution before the United Nations declaring the Transatlantic Slave Trade as the gravest crime against humanity.
Announcing the intention, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said President John Dramani Mahama will do so in his capacity as African Union (AU) Champion on Reparations in collaboration with Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) and all people of African descent.
The tabling of the draft resolution on the Declaration of the Trafficking of Enslaved Africans and Racialised Chattel Enslavement of Africans as the Gravest Crime Against Humanity is scheduled for consideration and adoption by the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday, March 25, 2026, a day set aside as the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
The resolution would formally declare the Trafficking of Enslaved Africans and Racialised Chattel Enslavement of Africans as the Gravest Crime Against Humanity by reason of the definitive break in world history, scale, duration, systemic nature, brutality and enduring consequences that continue to shape socio-economic realities and structural inequalities across the world.
“When adopted, the resolution, which has been endorsed by the African Union, would be the first comprehensive resolution on Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade in the 80-year history of the United Nations. Its adoption would preserve historical truth as a foundation for justice and reconciliation and respond to the call for meaningful engagement on reparatory justice, accountability and healing.”
“Naming this reality is not only symbolic but the beginning of a reckoning with the structural inequalities that underpin debt asymmetries, development gaps, climate vulnerability and global financial governance.”
Following the adoption of the resolution, Ghana will continue to advance multilateral efforts on reparatory justice within the framework of the African Union’s Decade of Action on Reparations and African Heritage (2026-2036).
Preceding the tabling of the resolution, there will be a solemn wreath laying ceremony at the African Burial Ground in New York on March 25, 2026, at 8:00 am and a High-Level Event on Reparatory Justice for the Trafficking of Enslaved Africans and Racialised Chattel Enslavement of Africans on the same day at the UN Conference Room 3 at 10:00 am.
Story by Hajara Fuseini
Click to read more: https://opemsuo.com/author/hajara-fuseini/
