Ghana wants trans-Atlantic slave trade declared gravest crime in history: Video
Ghana’s Foreign Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has called on the international community to support a resolution declaring the trans-Atlantic slave trade a crime against humanity.
Speaking at the CELAC–Africa High-Level Forum in Bogota, Colombia, on Saturday, March 21, Ablakwa said millions of Africans were stripped of their dignity over more than three centuries. He stated that Africans were subjected to inhumane conditions, displaced from their continent, treated as commodities, and exposed to torture and abuse.
He explained that the initiative will be formally presented by Ghana’s president, John Dramani Mahama, before international bodies on March 25. The proposal seeks to classify slavery as "the gravest crime against humanity", aiming to establish a legal and moral precedent within the international system.
Ablakwa also said the international community has not fully acknowledged the gravity of these crimes or held those responsible accountable.
"For more than 300 years, Africans were treated as property, many of them in the most dehumanising and despicable circumstances. Perpetrators are yet to apologise and have not compensated the victims," Ablakwa said.
“It is unfortunate that our friends in the EU and the US have served notice that they will not be voting for this resolution, but the good news is that we are far more than them, and we want to be on the side of justice, on the right side of history,” he added.
This story is written and edited by the Global South World team, you can contact us here.
