Slavery was the \u201cmost horrendous crime that took place in the history of mankind\u201d, Ghana\u2019s foreign minister has told the BBC ahead of a landmark vote at the UN General Assembly.<\/p>\n
Member states are set to vote on a resolution \u2013 led by Ghana \u2013 to recognise the transatlantic slave trade as \u201cthe gravest crime against humanity\u201d.<\/p>\n
The proposal urges UN member states to consider apologising for the slave trade and contributing to a reparations fund.<\/p>\n
The resolution is likely to face resistance, as states like the UK have long rejected paying reparations, saying today\u2019s institutions cannot be held responsible for past wrongs.<\/p>\n
But the proposal\u2019s advocates, which include the African Union, say it is a step towards healing and justice.<\/p>\n
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Ghana\u2019s foreign minister, told the BBC\u2019s Newsday programme: \u201cWe are demanding compensation \u2013 and let us be clear, African leaders are not asking for money for themselves.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want justice for the victims and causes to be supported, educational and endowment funds, skills training funds.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ablakwa also said that, with the resolution, Ghana was not ranking its pain above anyone else\u2019s, but simply documenting a historical fact.<\/p>\n
Between 1500 and 1800, around 12-15 million people were captured in Africa and taken to the Americas where they were forced to work as slaves. It is estimated that over two million people died on the journey.<\/p>\n
Ablakwa told the BBC that the \u201cstructures\u201d and \u201d inequalities\u201d created by slavery still persist.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany generations continue to suffer the exclusion, the racism because of the transatlantic slave trade which has left millions separated from the continent and impoverished,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Ghana, one of the main gateways for the trade, has long been a leading advocate for reparations.<\/p>\n
Forts, where tens of thousands of enslaved Africans were once held under inhuman conditions, remain standing along the West African country\u2019s coast.<\/p>\n
The resolution also calls for cultural artefacts stolen during the colonial era to be returned to their countries of origin.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want a return of all those looted artefacts, which represent our heritage, our culture and our spiritual significance. All those artefacts looted for many centuries into the colonial era ought to be returned,\u201d Ablakwa said.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Slavery was the \u201cmost horrendous crime that took place in the history of mankind\u201d, Ghana\u2019s foreign minister has told the BBC ahead of a landmark vote at the UN General Assembly. Member states are set to vote on a resolution \u2013 led by Ghana \u2013 to recognise the transatlantic slave trade as \u201cthe gravest crime […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-135441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135441\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}