UN Headquarters, New York City - March 26, 2026 (UNTV - For news purpose only/No archive/Not for other production use)
1. United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) commemorative meeting to commemorate International Day of Remembrance of Victims of Slavery and Transatlantic Slave Trade in progress
2. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaking
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General:
"Let us use them (this decade) to drive action in three critical areas, eradicating systemic racism, ensuring reparatory justice, and accelerating inclusive development with equal access to education, health, employment, housing and the safe environment. I welcome the steps some countries are taking to apologize for their role in the evil of slavery and to join an honest dialog about its lasting consequences."
4. Meeting attendees
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Annalena Baerbock, UNGA president:
"While systematic slavery and the slave trade may be confined to the past, its roots of discrimination live on, as do grave violations of human rights. Indeed, in the middle of the last century, the world saw slavery transformed from legally sanctioned to clandestine, with new forms of forced labor, human trafficking and debt bondage. We must therefore be tireless in pursuit of justice, ensuring that we remain active participants in the pursuit of dignity, accountability and equality across generations."
6. Meeting in progress
7. Screen displaying voting result
8. Officer hammering gavel to announce passage of draft resolution on declaring trafficking and racialized enslavement of Africans as gravest crime against humanity
9. Attendees applauding

The UN General Assembly (UNGA) on Wednesday condemned the historical enslavement of African people, adopting a draft resolution titled "Declaration of the Trafficking of Enslaved Africans and Racialized Chattel Enslavement of Africans as the Gravest Crime against Humanity."

The draft resolution was adopted by a vote of 123 in favor and 52 abstaining. Argentina, Israel and the United States voted against it.

Presented by Ghana on behalf of the African Group, the resolution declares "the trafficking of enslaved Africans and racialized chattel enslavement of Africans as the gravest crime against humanity," and affirms "the importance of addressing historical wrongs affecting Africans and people of African descent in a manner that promotes justice, human rights, dignity and healing, and emphasizes that claims for reparations represent a concrete step towards remedying historical wrongs against Africans and people of African descent."

In his remarks at the UNGA commemorative meeting to commemorate the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres hailed the resolution's adoption as a step toward recognizing the lasting impact of slavery.

In particular, he highlighted the resolution comes near the beginning of the Second International Decade for People of African Descent (2025-2034) and the African Union's Decade of Reparations (2026-2036).

"Let us use them (this decade) to drive action in three critical areas, eradicating systemic racism, ensuring reparatory justice, and accelerating inclusive development with equal access to education, health, employment, housing and the safe environment. I welcome the steps some countries are taking to apologize for their role in the evil of slavery and to join an honest dialog about its lasting consequences," the secretary-general said.

Guterres called for "far bolder action by many more countries," including respecting African countries' ownership of their natural resources and ensuring their equal participation and influence in the global financial architecture and the Security Council.

UNGA President Annalena Baerbock also elaborated on the ways that slavery's history continues to shape the present.

"While systematic slavery and the slave trade may be confined to the past, its roots of discrimination live on, as do grave violations of human rights. Indeed, in the middle of the last century, the world saw slavery transformed from legally sanctioned to clandestine, with new forms of forced labor, human trafficking and debt bondage. We must therefore be tireless in pursuit of justice, ensuring that we remain active participants in the pursuit of dignity, accountability and equality across generations," she said.