Ghana is set to table a resolution at the United Nations General Assembly seeking formal recognition of the transatlantic slave trade as one of the gravest crimes against humanity, President John Dramani Mahama announced on Thursday.

Speaking at a high-level panel on Reparations, Memory and Sovereignty in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, President Mahama framed the initiative as a moral imperative rather than a symbolic gesture.

“This is not symbolic diplomacy. It is a necessary moral clarification of history,” he said, calling on the 39th Assembly of the African Union to give full support to the effort.

The Ghanaian leader stressed that acknowledging the horrors of the slave trade is central to Africa’s dignity and civilisational restoration.

“Let us not defer justice. Let us not postpone dignity. Let us act, and let us act together,” he rallied.

President Mahama, who also serves as the African Union Champion on Reparations, emphasised that reparative justice must extend beyond cultural restitution to include economic redress, political empowerment, and psychological healing for Africa.

He described the 2023 Common African Position on the Restitution of Heritage Resources as a guiding ethical framework rooted in international law.