President John Dramani Mahama is set to table a landmark resolution at the United Nations General Assembly seeking to formally declare the Transatlantic Slave Trade as the gravest crime against humanity.

The resolution is scheduled for consideration and possible adoption on March 25, 2026—marking the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade.

According to Ghana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the move follows President Mahama’s pledge during his address to the UN General Assembly last year and forms part of broader global efforts toward justice, recognition, and historical accountability.

Ghana, acting in its role as the African Union’s Champion on Reparations, is leading the initiative in collaboration with the African Union and the Caribbean Community, alongside stakeholders representing people of African descent worldwide.

If adopted, the resolution would formally recognise the trafficking of enslaved Africans and racialised chattel enslavement as the gravest crime against humanity, citing its scale, duration, systemic nature, brutality, and enduring global consequences.

Officials say the declaration would mark a historic milestone as the first comprehensive UN resolution on slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade in the organisation’s 80-year history. It is expected to reinforce calls for reparatory justice, accountability, and global healing, while preserving historical truth as a foundation for reconciliation.

The initiative also seeks to spotlight how the legacy of slavery continues to shape modern socio-economic inequalities, including development disparities, debt imbalances, climate vulnerability, and inequities in global financial systems.

Ahead of the UN session, a series of commemorative and high-level events will be held in New York. These include a wreath-laying ceremony at the African Burial Ground National Monument on March 24, followed by a high-level forum on reparatory justice at the UN.

Following the anticipated adoption, Ghana is expected to intensify advocacy for reparatory justice under the African Union’s Decade of Action on Reparations and African Heritage (2026–2036).

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed appreciation to key partners, including the African Union Commission, UNESCO, CARICOM, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, and various experts and institutions that contributed to drafting the resolution.

Ghana has also called on all UN Member States to support the resolution, urging them to stand “on the right side of history and justice” in recognising one of humanity’s most enduring injustices.