The Government of Ghana has announced major progress on a landmark international resolution seeking formal recognition of the trafficking of enslaved Africans and racialized chattel enslavement as the gravest crime against humanity under international law.
President John Dramani Mahama described the initiative as historic and firmly grounded in established principles of international law.
Speaking at an African Union Summit press conference in Ethiopia, he said the resolution is built on three key pillars: historical accuracy, legal defensibility, and alignment across Africa and the diaspora.
He added that Ghana worked carefully to ensure the text reflects “rigorous scholarship, moral clarity, and diplomatic credibility.”
The initiative, according to him, has gone through wide consultations at regional, continental, and international levels.
Mr. Mahama emphasized the need to acknowledge the historical injustices of the transatlantic slave trade and called for a global reckoning before any discussion on financial reparations.
Speaking on reparations justice, he said the issue is not only about monetary compensation but also about setting the historical record straight, returning stolen artefacts to Africa, and addressing the pillaging that occurred during the slave trade period.
