States adopt the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court

Adopted in Nairobi, the Charter recognized civil, political, economic, social, and peoples’ rights and expressly prohibited slavery in Article 5. Its language placed human dignity and collective...

The Geneva conference reviewed international efforts against racism and racial discrimination, including the persistence of apartheid and colonial legacies. Its debates showed that formal bans on...

After the required ratifications, the Charter became binding for its parties. Article 5 prohibits slavery, the slave trade, torture, and degrading treatment. The instrument gave regional legal force...

Article 68 of the Constitution’s Transitional Provisions recognizes definitive land ownership for descendants of quilombo communities who occupy their lands. This constitutional claim linked...

The election ended apartheid’s system of racially restricted political participation and brought the African National Congress to power. It followed a long liberation struggle and marked a decisive...

Haiti was among the first places to mark the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition. The observance centered the Haitian Revolution’s place in Atlantic history...

Gorée Island held an early observance of the remembrance day. The site’s memorial meaning has been debated by historians; its public commemoration nonetheless illustrates how African communities and...

The Protocol supplemented the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and defined trafficking in persons. It addresses contemporary exploitation rather than the historic Atlantic trade,...

The conference brought state and civil-society representatives together to address racism, colonialism, slavery, and their contemporary effects. The process was contentious, and the final...

The Durban Declaration and Programme of Action described slavery and the transatlantic slave trade as crimes against humanity and recognized their continuing consequences. The declaration emerged from...