The United Nations General Assembly has classified the trans-Atlantic slave trade as the “gravest crime against humanity,” adopting a resolution that also calls for the return of cultural artefacts to their countries of origin.
The measure, introduced by Ghana, was backed by 123 countries, while Israel, the United States and Argentina voted against it. Germany abstained. General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding.
The text says the enslavement of Africans and the trans-Atlantic slave trade should be regarded as the “gravest crime against humanity” due to the scale, duration, systemic nature, brutality and lasting consequences of the crimes.
A US representative criticized the resolution as problematic, saying the United Nations had not been established to advance specific agendas or promote what he described as niche international observances.
The vote coincided with the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
Between the 16th and 19th centuries, millions of Africans were enslaved and transported by European colonialists to the Americas and the Caribbean, with many dying during the journey.
Britain abolished the slave trade in 1807, while slavery was formally banned across the United States in 1865. The United Nations outlawed slavery globally with the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948