The International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, 2 December, recalls the date of the adoption, by the General Assembly, of the United Nations Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others (resolution 317(IV)of 2 December 1949).
By resolution 57/195 of 18 December 2002, the Assembly proclaimed 2004 the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition. On 28 November 2006, the Assembly designated 25 March 2007 as the International Day for the Commemoration of the 200th Anniversary of the Abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade (resolution 61/19).
“The story of the end of the slave trade deserves to be told here at the United Nations. Indeed, the defense of human rights is at the heart of this Organization’s global mission. Our Charter proclaims equal rights. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “no one shall be held in slavery or servitude”.
Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon
Remarks at opening of exhibit “Lest We Forget-- The Triumph Over Slavery” at
United Nations Headquarters, New York, 1 March 2007
THE SECRETARY-GENERAL REMARKS AT OPENING OF THE EXHIBITION “LEST WE FORGET – THE TRIUMPH OVER SLAVERY”
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I thank all the friends and partners who were involved in making this exhibition possible. The Governments of the Caribbean Community, the Government of India, and the Schomburg Centre for Research in Black Culture have produced a moving and fascinating show. I am proud of the UN’s contributions to this effort.
The story of the end of the slave trade deserves to be told here at the United Nations. Indeed, the defense of human rights is at the heart of this Organization’s global mission. Our Charter proclaims equal rights. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “no one shall be held in slavery or servitude”.
For too long, however, the transatlantic slave trade was a blight on the world. The illustrations in this exhibition depict the terrible dehumanization that prevailed during those centuries. Millions perished from the long march in Africa and the middle passage across the Atlantic. Millions were exploited under brutal conditions in the Americas, and saw their labour help build prosperous societies in which they had no say.
But if human beings showed yet again their capacity for cruelty, some showed a more noble side. Abolitionist movements sprung up. Slaves themselves rose up against their subjugation, most notably in Haiti.
Two hundred years ago tomorrow, United States President Thomas Jefferson signed legislation abolishing the slave trade. Later that same month, the British Parliament banned the slave trade throughout the British Empire. The tide had turned. Accordingly, the UN General Assembly has proclaimed 25 March of this year as a day on which the world should commemorate this important anniversary.
As we do so, we should remember that even today, many millions of our fellow human beings are subjected to slavery-like practices. These include debt bondage and the use of children in armed conflict. The victims are typically too scared to speak out. For all that has been accomplished in our campaign for human rights, we still have much to do.
This exhibition tells more than the story of the triumph over the slave trade. We also see men and women striving to maintain dignity and their culture in a world without mercy. Let us be inspired by their struggle. And let us finish the job that is still before us.
Now it is my great pleasure to declare this exhibition open.
Thank you.
The Transatlantic slave trade persisted for four centuries.
Imagine being torn from your weeping family as a result of ethnic warfare…forced to walk hundreds of miles until you reach the sea on the West African side of the Atlantic Ocean. You are stripped of your name, your identity, of every right a human being deserves. The European ship that you are forced to board, is headed across the Atlantic to Caribbean and South American plantations, a voyage through the awful “middle passage”. A multitude of black people of every description chained together, with scarcely room to turn, traveling for months, seasick, surrounded by the filth of vomit-filled tubs, into which children often fell, some suffocating. The shrieks of the women, and the groans of the dying renders the whole scene of horror almost inconceivable. Death and disease are all around and only one in six will survive this journey and the brutal, backbreaking labour that follows.
Fuentes:
http://www.un.org/depts/dhl/slavery/
http://www.un.org/events/slaveryabolition/index.shtml
http://www.un.org/events/slaveryabolition/sgmessage.shtml