UN establishes remembrance day and memorial initiative

The Rome Statute lists enslavement among crimes against humanity when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population, with knowledge of the attack. Its...

Civil-society organizations met before the World Conference against Racism. The NGO forum advanced a more direct account of transatlantic slavery, colonialism and reparations than many governments...

The UN World Conference against Racism opened in Durban, South Africa. African states, Caribbean states, diaspora movements and NGOs brought slavery and colonialism into a major multilateral debate on...

The World Conference adopted the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action. Paragraph 13 recognizes that slavery and the slave trade, particularly the transatlantic trade, are crimes against humanity...

The UN Commission on Human Rights established a dedicated expert body to study problems of racial discrimination faced by people of African descent and recommend measures. The institutional pathway...

The first annual UN observance made the memory of enslaved Africans and the transatlantic trade part of the organization’s public calendar. Commemoration can challenge historical erasure, but...

General Assembly resolution 64/169 proclaimed 2011 an International Year for People of African Descent, aiming to strengthen national action and international cooperation. The resolution centered...

The General Assembly held a high-level meeting on the tenth anniversary of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action. The gathering renewed attention to racism, racial discrimination,...

At their 34th regular meeting, CARICOM Heads of Government mandated a regional commission and national committees to pursue reparatory justice for Indigenous and African-descended communities. The...

The General Assembly proclaimed 2015–2024 as the International Decade for People of African Descent under the theme recognition, justice and development. The framework connected historical recognition...