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Un Adopts Landmark Resolution Declaring Transatlantic Slave

Alistair Lowe
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un adopts landmark resolution declaring transatlantic slave

On 25 March 2026 — the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade — States at the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution declaring that the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans and the racialised slavery that followed constituted the ‘gravest crime against humanity’.

Sponsored by Ghana and supported by the African Union (AU) and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) States, Resolution A/80/L.48, was adopted by a decisive majority of 123 votes in favour, including the majority of States in Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region. There were 52 abstentions and three votes against – from the United States, Israel and Argentina.

ISHR and our partners in the global movement for racial justice, including the UN Antiracism Coalition (UNARC), welcome this resolution as a significant victory for the many organisations, advocates, Maroon communities and families who have courageously advocated for reparatory justice. This is not merely a symbolic gesture, but the result of intense and coordinated advocacy by global civil society. From the corridors of the UN headquarters in New York to the legislative chambers of national capitals and social media, the pressure was continuous.

A highlight of this mobilisation was British lawmaker Bell Ribeiro-Addy’s petition to the United Kingdom’s House of Commons, which emphasised that the consequences of the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans ‘are still felt in the inequalities and injustices we see today’. This global coordination sent a clear message: movements for racial justice are no longer just rhetoric and remembrance. Advocates now demand concrete changes and real accountability.

In the context of the AU Decade for Reparations, the Second International Decade for People of African Descent, and as the international community, together with advocates, prepares the United Nations Declaration on the Promotion, Protection and Full Respect of the Human Rights of People of African Descent, this resolution provides the necessary clarity. It recognises that the systemic underdevelopment, marginalisation and inequality suffered by Africans and people of African descent are not an accident of history, but the result of a deliberate and racialised industry of human extraction and exploitation.

The 52 abstentions and 3 votes against were largely justified by a recurring diplomatic argument: international law should not allow for the creation of a hierarchy of crimes. Opponents of the resolution argued that labelling one atrocity as the ‘gravest’ minimises the suffering of victims of other genocides or crimes against humanity. However, this argument proved to be flawed. Declaring the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans the ‘gravest’ crime against humanity does not amount to engaging in an ‘Olympics of oppression’.

Instead, it serves to recognise its unique scale, duration and legacy. For four centuries, an entire global economic system was built upon the commodification of a specific race. No other crime has so fundamentally reshaped the demographics, economy and social hierarchy of four continents simultaneously. Refusing to acknowledge this magnitude under the pretext of legal equality is, in practice, an act of historical erasure. The fact that this vote coincides with the 25th anniversary of the Durban Declaration calls for serious reflection.

In 2001, the major Western States walked out of the conference to avoid precisely the language adopted in this resolution. In 2026, those States stayed, voted ‘No’ or abstained, and saw 123 countries ignore their objections. In 2001, the Durban text stated that trafficking should have been a crime. In 2026, the UN has unequivocally declared that it is a crime, the gravest crime. This shift from ‘should have been’ to ‘is’ represents a significant turning point, and advocates around the world are celebrating it.

Behind these 123 ‘yes’ votes lie the shadows of millions of human beings who were turned into commodities, and the breath of millions who today face the racialised hierarchies left behind by this trade. Although some States continue to cling to legal technicalities to evade the possibility of reparations, the world continues to move forward with the aim of closing the wound and beginning to truly heal it.

This resolution and the results of the vote place us on the path towards the end of the era of silent acquiescence and lead us to the beginning of an era of truth, strength and justice.

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On 25 March 2026 — the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade — States at the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution declaring that the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans and the racialised slavery that followed constituted the ‘gravest crime against humanity’.

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On 25 March 2026 — the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade — States at the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution declaring that the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans and the racialised slavery that followed constituted the ‘gravest crime against humanity’.

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Sponsored by Ghana and supported by the African Union (AU) and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) States, Resolution A/80/L.48, was adopted by a decisive majority of 123 votes in favour, including the majority of States in Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region. There were 52 abstentions and three votes against – from the United States, Israel and Argentina.

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Behind these 123 ‘yes’ votes lie the shadows of millions of human beings who were turned into commodities, and the breath of millions who today face the racialised hierarchies left behind by this trade. Although some States continue to cling to legal technicalities to evade the possibility of reparations, the world continues to move forward with the aim of closing the wound and beginning to truly ...

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This resolution and the results of the vote place us on the path towards the end of the era of silent acquiescence and lead us to the beginning of an era of truth, strength and justice.