New york: The United Nations (UN) General Assembly has adopted Ghana's resolution to recognize the slave trade as 'the gravest crime against humanity'. The adoption of the resolution, which was tabled by Ghana's President John Dramani Mahama, the African Union Champion for Reparations, aims to pave the way for healing, justice, and the payment of reparations. It was adopted with 123 countries voting in favor, while three countries - the United States, Israel, and Argentina - voted against it. Additionally, 52 countries abstained, including European Union Member States and Britain.
According to Ghana News Agency, President Mahama, in tabling the motion before the UN General Assembly, stated that the draft resolution was a result of months of consultation and consensus-building by continental bodies, nations, experts, scholars, and jurists. The goal was to achieve a united front and ground the final outcome in truth, compassion, moral conscience, remembrance, education, and dialogue. "So, today we come together in solemn solidarity to affirm truth and pursue a route to healing and reparative justice," he said.
President Mahama emphasized that the adoption of this resolution serves as a safeguard against forgetting while challenging the enduring scars of slavery. Quoting former President Theodore Roosevelt of the United States, he stated, "With a great moral issue involved, neutrality does not serve righteousness. For to be neutral between right and wrong is to serve wrong." He also cited Civil Rights Leader Dr. Martin Luther King, saying, "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice."
President Mahama further expressed, "We travel this long road, each step guided by a desire to be better and to do better, each step bringing us closer to the kind of world we would want to leave for our children." Addressing the delegates at the UN, he urged, "On this beautiful day in March, we are called to stand on the right side of history." He added, "Let it be recorded that when history beckoned, we did what was right. For the memory of the millions who suffered the indignity of the slave trade and those who continue to suffer racial discrimination. Let our vote on this resolution restore their dignity and humanity."
The resolution allows the global community to collectively bear witness to the plight of the 18 million men, women, and children whose lives were altered over the course of four centuries.