UN calls for reparations to remedy the ‘historical wrongs’ of trafficking enslaved Africans : NPR

FILE – The United Nations logo is seen inside the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, September 24, 2024.

Pamela Smith/AP

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Pamela Smith/AP

UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution Wednesday declaring the African slave trade “the gravest crime against humanity” and calling for reparations as “a concrete step toward righting historic wrongs.”

The resolution also calls for the “prompt and unhindered return” of cultural property – including works of art, monuments, museum pieces, documents and national archives – to their countries of origin, free of charge.

The vote in the 193-member global organization was 123 to 3, with 52 abstentions. Argentina, Israel and the United States were the three members who voted against the resolution. The United Kingdom and the 27 members of the European Union were among those who abstained.

While the United States opposes the past wrongs of the transatlantic slave trade and all other forms of slavery, it “does not recognize a legal right to reparations for historical wrongs that were not illegal under international law at the time they occurred,” Deputy U.S. Ambassador Dan Negrea said before the vote.

“The United States also strongly opposes the resolution’s attempt to classify crimes against humanity according to any type of hierarchy,” he said. “The claim that some crimes against humanity are less serious than others objectively diminishes the suffering of countless victims and survivors of other atrocities throughout history.”

In the United States, support for reparations grew following the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020. However, the issue remains difficult and has been caught up in a broader conservative backlash over how race, history and inequality are treated in public institutions.

Unlike UN Security Council resolutions, General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding but are an important reflection of world opinion.

“Today, we come together in solemn solidarity to affirm the truth and pursue the path of healing and restorative justice,” Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama, one of the main architects of the resolution, said before the vote.

“The adoption of this resolution constitutes a guarantee against forgetting,” he declared. “Let it be noted that when history called upon us, we did what was right for the sake of the memory of the millions who suffered the indignity of slavery.”

Mahama noted that the vote took place on the International Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, honoring the memory of an estimated 13 million African men, women and children enslaved over several centuries.

Diplomats applauded and some applauded the adoption of the resolution.

The history of slavery and “its devastating consequences and long-term impacts” must never be forgotten, said Britain’s acting ambassador to the UN, James Kariuki, speaking on behalf of mainly Western countries, including some that enslaved Africans.

Western countries are determined to tackle the root causes that persist today, he said, highlighting racial discrimination, racism, xenophobia and intolerance. He added that “the scourge of modern slavery” must also be tackled: trafficking, forced labour, sexual exploitation and forced crime.

Cyprus’ deputy ambassador to the UN, Gabriella Michaelidou, speaking on behalf of the EU, echoed US and UK concerns about “the use of superlatives” that imply “a hierarchy among atrocity crimes”.

Michaelidou also cited EU concerns about “unbalanced interpretation of historical events” and legal references that are inaccurate or inconsistent with international law, including “suggestions of a retroactive application of international rules that were non-existent at the time and demands for reparations.”

The resolution “unequivocally condemns the African slave trade and the racialized enslavement of Africans, slavery and the transatlantic slave trade as the most inhumane and enduring injustice against humanity.”

In endorsing the resolution, the General Assembly affirms the importance of addressing the historical wrongs of slavery that promotes “justice, human rights, dignity and healing.”

The resolution calls on UN member countries to engage in negotiations “on restorative justice, including a full and formal apology, measures of restitution, compensation, rehabilitation, satisfaction, guarantees of non-repetition, and changes to laws, programs and services to combat racism and systemic discrimination.”

It encourages voluntary contributions to promote education about the transatlantic slave trade and calls on the African Union, the Caribbean Community and the Organization of American States to collaborate with United Nations agencies and other nations “on restorative justice and reconciliation.”