00:00It's a big moment at the UN. Ghana's permanent representative is urging member states to
00:05back a draft resolution recognizing the transatlantic slave trade as the gravest crime against humanity.
00:12Samuel Gaokuma emphasizes this isn't about comparing tragedies.
00:15The concern has been raised that describing the trafficking and racialized chattel enslavement
00:21of Africans as the gravest crime against humanity creates a hierarchy among historical atrocities.
00:30Respectfully, that interpretation is misplaced.
00:34First, the resolution does not rank suffering, nor does it attempt to create a legal hierarchy
00:40of crimes against humanity.
00:42Every atrocity, genocide, apartheid, colonial violence, and other crimes recognized under
00:51international law remains unequivocally condemned.
00:55The resolution simply identifies the historical mechanism that fundamentally restructured the world.
01:03For Ghana, the resolution is about confronting history honestly and pushing the conversation
01:09on justice forward.
01:12Supporting this resolution is not an act of accusation.
01:16It is an act of recognition.
01:19It is an affirmation that the international community possesses the moral confidence to name historical
01:26realities and learn from them.
01:29The trafficking and racialized chattel enslavement of Africans shaped the world we have inherited.
01:37Acknowledging this truth honors not only the memory of those who suffered, but also the universal
01:44principles of dignity, equality, and justice upon which this organization was founded.
01:51Between 1501 and 1867, over 13 million Africans were forcibly taken across the Atlantic, torn from
01:58their homes and families.
02:00For more information, visit www.fema.org, visit www.fema.org, visit www.fema.org, visit www.fema.org.
Comments