Ghana Champions UN Motion to Label Slavery a Supreme Crime Against Humanity

In a landmark move for historical justice, President John Dramani Mahama has announced that Ghana will formally petition the United Nations to designate slavery and the transatlantic slave trade as the gravest crimes against humanity. The President revealed this initiative during Ghana’s Independence Day celebrations, signaling a renewed global effort to address the enduring scars of the colonial era.

The announcement was made in the company of the Prime Minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis, Terrance Michael Drew, who attended as the special guest of honor. His presence underscored the ancestral and cultural bridge between West Africa and the Caribbean, two regions forever linked by the history of the Middle Passage.

President Mahama highlighted the significance of the Cape Coast and Elmina Castles as somber monuments to the millions of Africans who were forcibly taken from their homelands. He noted that while these sites represent a dark chapter of human history, the subsequent resilience of the African diaspora has profoundly shaped global culture and progress.

The upcoming motion to the United Nations is described as a necessary step toward international recognition and restitution. By spearheading this campaign, Ghana intends to leverage its historical position as the first sub-Saharan nation to achieve independence to lead a modern movement for dignity and restoration. President Mahama emphasized that this push for justice, conducted in partnership with African nations and the diaspora, is a long overdue acknowledgement of historical atrocities.