Accra: Liberia President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, Sr. has urged world leaders to advance justice and reconciliation, cautioning against allowing the landmark United Nations resolution to become another forgotten commitment. 'Let this not be remembered as another conference or another resolution that stirred consciences briefly before fading into history,' President Boakai cautioned.
According to Ghana News Agency, President Boakai called for 'a determined global effort to restore dignity, repair historical wrongs, and build a future founded on equity, shared prosperity, and shared humanity.' He delivered this message at the High-Level Consultative Conference on the Next Steps for the Landmark United Nations General Assembly Resolution A/RES/80/250 on the Transatlantic Slave Trade in Accra.
President Boakai urged the international community to move beyond symbolic acknowledgments of the transatlantic slave trade as one of the gravest crimes against humanity and to embrace concrete measures for reparatory justice. He asserted that the historic exploitation of Africans continues to shape modern-day inequality and underdevelopment.
He emphasized that the adoption of the UN resolution recognizing the trafficking and enslavement of Africans as among the gravest crimes against humanity must not be treated as a mere historical acknowledgment. The consequences of slavery, he noted, extend far beyond history books and remain deeply connected to the economic and developmental disparities confronting Africa and the Global South today.
'There is no doubt that the slave trade and its aftermath contributed profoundly to inequality and underdevelopment in Africa and across the Global South,' he stated. President Boakai urged governments and international institutions to pursue a comprehensive framework that includes truth-telling, reconciliation, cultural restoration, educational reform, institution-building, and development partnerships aimed at addressing the enduring effects of slavery.
He proposed the establishment of an African Union-United Nations Expert Commission to design a Global Reparatory Justice Mechanism. He stressed the need for stronger collaboration among African nations, CARICOM, and diaspora organizations to advance a common position on reparations.
President Boakai advocated for the restitution of stolen cultural artifacts and expanded investments in historical research and education to counter misinformation and the erasure of Africa's history. While acknowledging that the damages caused by slavery could not be measured solely in financial terms, President Boakai explained that centuries of forced labor, human trafficking, and resource extraction generated enormous wealth that helped shape the economic foundations of many societies around the world.
He challenged the global community to match its declarations with meaningful action, stating, 'Future generations will judge us not by the eloquence of our declarations, but by the courage of our actions today.' He emphasized that the pursuit of reparatory justice should not be viewed as an attempt to assign personal guilt to present generations but rather as a call for understanding, recognition, and collective responsibility in addressing the enduring legacy of historical injustice.
The Accra Summit, hosted by President John Dramani Mahama, sought to reinforce the historic step taken by the international community to recognize the enduring legacy and global consequences of the enslavement of Africans and the racialized chattel enslavement of Africans. It brought together world leaders, diplomats, academia, development partners, civil society leaders, and representatives of the global African diaspora from over 80 countries.
Among the world leaders who attended the Accra Summit were President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah of Namibia, President Bassirou Diomaye Faye of Senegal, and the Prime Minister of Barbados Honourable Mia Amor Mottley. Other notable attendees included the Prime Minister of Equatorial Guinea, Manuel Osa Nsue Nsua, President of So Tom© and Prncipe, Carlos Vila Nova, and the Speaker of the Algerian Parliament, Mr. Azouz Nasri.