By Celestine Avi and Seth Eyiah
President John Dramani Mahama has called on the international community to support a historic United Nations resolution declaring the transatlantic slave trade the gravest crime against humanity, describing it as a crucial step toward justice, truth, and global healing.
Addressing a high-level event on reparatory justice at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on March 24, 2026, President Mahama emphasised that confronting the legacy of slavery must begin with reclaiming the humanity of those who were enslaved.
“There is no such thing as a slave,” he stated. “There were human beings who were trafficked and then enslaved by people who believed they could own those human beings as property.”
He stressed that the transatlantic slave trade was a deliberate system built on racial hierarchy and designed to strip Africans of their dignity, noting that “the transatlantic slave trade was designed to deny African people their humanity.”
President Mahama said the proposed resolution provides an opportunity for the global community to acknowledge the suffering of approximately 18 million Africans who were forcibly taken from their homes over four centuries.
“This resolution allows us, as a global community, to collectively bear witness to the plight of 18 million human beings,” he said, adding that “this resolution is a pathway to healing and reparative justice” and “a safeguard against forgetting.”
Recounting the brutality of the slave trade, the President described the inhumane conditions endured during the Middle Passage and the harsh realities of plantation life, where enslaved Africans were treated as commodities for economic gain.
“African lives were disposable. When labour is virtually free, profit margins are huge,” he noted, highlighting how enslaved labour underpinned the economic growth of Europe and the Americas.
Despite these immense contributions, President Mahama said the role of Africans in building global economies has largely been ignored or deliberately erased.
“We have paid the price of admission with the blood of our ancestors, and still, what greets us at the door is silence,” he said.
He cautioned against modern attempts to distort or downplay the history of slavery, warning that such revisionism perpetuates injustice.
“Erasure begins with language, when words are used to create mythology and to diminish truth,” he stated.
Rejecting arguments that historical practices should be judged by the standards of their time, the President insisted that slavery was always morally wrong.
“Just because everybody is doing something doesn’t make it right. Slavery is wrong now, and it was wrong then,” he stressed.
President Mahama further called for a renewed commitment to reclaiming African identity and dignity, underscoring the resilience and historical achievements of African civilizations despite centuries of oppression.
“Our survival is a testament that the greatness within us outweighs the injustices that have been visited upon us,” he said.
He concluded with a strong appeal to member states to support the resolution, urging them to confront the truth of history and take a stand for justice.
“I hope all of you will vote to speak truth to power so that together we can pass this historic resolution and finally acknowledge the full horror of these transgressions against humanity,” he urged.
