By Celestine Avi and Seth Eyiah
President John Dramani Mahama has declared the transatlantic slave trade the gravest crime against humanity, calling for global recognition of its scale and lasting consequences.
Addressing a high-level event at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, President Mahama said the classification of the slave trade as a crime against humanity is long overdue, stressing that its impact continues to shape inequalities across the world.
He argued that beyond the physical brutality, slavery was institutionalised through legal systems deliberately crafted to dehumanise Africans and legitimise exploitation.
Citing historical laws, the President referenced the 1661 Barbados Slave Code, which defined enslaved Africans as subhuman and prescribed harsh punishments, as well as the legal doctrine partus sequitur ventrum, which ensured that children born to enslaved women automatically inherited their status as property.
According to him, such frameworks transformed human beings into commodities and enabled generations of exploitation.
“These were not random acts of cruelty,” he stated. “They were systems backed by law, designed to sustain economic gain at the expense of human dignity.”
President Mahama emphasised that recognising the slave trade as the gravest crime against humanity is essential to establishing historical accountability and advancing reparatory justice.
“Just because something was widely practiced does not make it right. Slavery was wrong then, and it is wrong now,” he stressed.
He noted that millions of Africans were subjected to forced labour, violence, and generational dispossession under systems that prioritised profit over humanity.
“African lives were treated as disposable in a system where labour was virtually free and profit margins were enormous,” he said.
The President further argued that the failure to fully acknowledge the legal and economic structures behind slavery has contributed to ongoing global inequalities and racial injustices.
He called on world leaders to confront this history honestly and support efforts aimed at redress.
“This is about truth, accountability, and justice,” he said. “We must acknowledge the full horror of these transgressions against humanity.”
President Mahama urged member states to back the proposed resolution, describing it as a necessary step toward correcting historical wrongs and ensuring that such crimes are never repeated.
