UN General Assembly Recognises Transatlantic Slave Trade as Crime Against Humanity, Calls for Reparative Justice

The United Nations General Assembly has adopted a resolution recognising the transatlantic slave trade and slavery as one of the most severe crimes against humanity, while urging stronger global action on reparations and racial justice.

The vote on Wednesday drew wide support: 123 countries voted in favour, including Nigeria and Ghana alongside more than 120 other member states. Three countries—Argentina, Israel, and the United States—voted against, while 52 abstained.

Ghana led the initiative on behalf of the African Group, which represents 54 countries. Ahead of the vote, Ghana’s President John Mahama said the resolution was intended to confront historical realities and advance efforts toward healing and justice for people of African descent.

The text describes the slave trade and chattel slavery of Africans as a crime of exceptional severity, citing its scale, duration, and systemic brutality. It also highlights the long-term effects that continue to shape inequality and discrimination in many societies today.

For over four centuries, millions of Africans were forcibly taken across the Atlantic, stripped of identity, and subjected to forced labour in plantations across the Americas and the Caribbean. The resolution links those events to present-day patterns of racial discrimination and structural inequality.

It also aligns with international initiatives marking the Second International Decade for People of African Descent and the African Union’s decade-long focus on reparations.

UN General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock said slavery violated the principles on which the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights were built. She noted that countries of origin also suffered lasting damage through the loss of entire generations, describing it as large-scale extraction of human and economic potential.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for efforts to address the enduring consequences of slavery, including systemic racism and inequality. He urged governments to expand access to education, healthcare, housing, and employment, and to ensure fair participation of African countries in global financial systems and international institutions.

The United States delegation rejected the idea of a legal obligation for reparations, arguing that historical actions not considered unlawful at the time cannot form the basis of such claims under international law.