The UN General Assembly has formally recognised the transatlantic slave trade as “the gravest crime against humanity”, adopting a Ghana‑sponsored resolution that advocates say marks a historic step toward justice and repair.
The measure passed by 123 votes to three, with 52 abstentions, signalling a decisive—if not unanimous—shift in the global conversation on reparatory justice. The resolution urges member states to consider issuing formal apologies and contributing to a reparations fund, though it does not set financial parameters.
Ghana’s foreign minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, told the BBC ahead of the vote that the push for compensation is not about enriching governments but supporting victims’ descendants through education, skills programmes and endowment funds. He stressed that Ghana was not elevating its suffering above others, but documenting a historical truth.
Between 1500 and 1800, an estimated 12–15 million Africans were captured and transported to the Americas, with more than two million dying during the Middle Passage. The resolution, backed by the African Union and CARICOM, states that the legacy of slavery persists today in racial inequality and underdevelopment across the African diaspora.
Ghana—one of the major departure points during the trade—has long been a leading voice on reparations. Its coastal forts, where tens of thousands were held in brutal conditions, remain standing as physical evidence of the system’s violence. The resolution also calls for the return of cultural artefacts looted during the colonial era.
President John Dramani Mahama hailed the vote as “historic” and “a safeguard against forgetting”, while criticising the Trump administration for policies he said were “normalising the erasure of Black history”, including efforts to restore Confederate monuments and dismantle a slavery exhibit in Philadelphia.
The vote caps years of growing momentum: reparatory justice was the African Union’s theme for 2025, and Commonwealth leaders have already called for formal dialogue on reparations. With today’s decision, the UN has now placed the moral weight of the international system behind that movement.
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