The United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday adopted a landmark resolution declaring the trafficking of enslaved Africans the gravest crime against humanity and calling for reparations as a concrete step toward remedying historical wrongs.
The vote in the 193-member body passed 123 to 3, with 52 abstentions. Argentina, Israel, and the United States voted against the resolution, while the United Kingdom and all 27 members of the European Union were among those that abstained.
Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama, a key architect of the resolution, declared the result “a route to healing and reparative justice,” adding that the resolution serves as a safeguard against historical forgetting.
The resolution unequivocally condemns the trafficking of enslaved Africans and the transatlantic slave trade as the most inhumane and enduring injustice against humanity. It calls on UN member nations to engage in talks on reparatory justice, including formal apologies, financial compensation, rehabilitation, and guarantees of non-repetition.
It also urges the prompt and unhindered restitution of cultural items including artworks, museum pieces, monuments, and national archives to their countries of origin without charge. The resolution further highlights the persistence of racial discrimination and neo-colonialism as part of slavery’s lasting legacy.
The United States called the text “highly problematic,” with U.S. Ambassador Dan Negrea stated that Washington does not recognize a legal right to reparations for historical wrongs that were not illegal under international law at the time they occurred.
Washington also strongly objected to what it described as the resolution’s attempt to rank crimes against humanity in a hierarchy, arguing such a ranking diminishes the suffering of victims of other atrocities.
Despite the intense debate, unlike UN Security Council resolutions, General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding though they carry significant political weight as a reflection of global opinion.
