President John Dramani Mahama is set to present a landmark resolution at the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday, 25 March 2026, seeking to formally designate the Transatlantic Slave Trade as the gravest crime against humanity.
According to Ghana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the proposed resolution—titled Declaration of the Trafficking of Enslaved Africans and Racialised Chattel Enslavement of Africans as the Gravest Crime Against Humanity—represents a major step in the global push for reparatory justice and historical recognition.
The motion is expected to be considered and adopted on a date that coincides with the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
Ghana is leading the initiative in its role as African Union Champion on Reparations, working in collaboration with CARICOM and the wider global community of people of African descent.
“All is set for the historic tabling of a United Nations resolution declaring the Transatlantic Slave Trade as the gravest crime against humanity,” the Ministry said in a statement issued on Thursday, March 19, 2026, referencing President Mahama’s earlier commitment during his address to the UN General Assembly.
If adopted, the resolution would mark the first comprehensive UN recognition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade in the organisation’s 80-year history. It would formally acknowledge the trafficking and enslavement of Africans as a defining historical injustice, citing its scale, brutality, systemic nature, and long-lasting global impact.
The Ministry said the resolution aims to preserve historical truth as a foundation for justice and reconciliation while responding to increasing global calls for reparatory justice, accountability, and healing.
It further argues that formally naming the crime 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.”
The initiative has already received endorsement from the African Union, strengthening Ghana’s push to build broad international support ahead of the vote.
Following the tabling, Ghana will continue to advance reparations efforts under the African Union’s Decade of Action on Reparations and African Heritage (2026–2036), aimed at addressing the historical and ongoing impacts of slavery and colonial exploitation.
Ahead of the resolution’s consideration, a wreath-laying ceremony will be held on Tuesday, March 24, 2026, at the African Burial Ground in New York, followed by a High-Level Event on Reparatory Justice at the United Nations Conference Room 3 later that morning.
The Ministry expressed appreciation to the Technical Committee that drafted the resolution, as well as partner institutions including the African Union Commission, UNESCO, CARICOM, CELAC, Ghana’s diplomatic missions, and international experts and activists who contributed to the process.
Ghana is calling on all UN Member States to support the resolution, urging them “to be counted on the right side of history and justice” as the world prepares to confront one of humanity’s darkest chapters with renewed urgency.
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