25 MARCH

In 2007, the UN established an international day of awareness and remembrance of the victims and survivors of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade.

Between the 16th and 20th centuries, millions of women, men and children were snatched from their lands in Africa to be sold as slaves in the Americas. Among them were also free people: captured to be turned into merchandise and then into labour.  As the logbooks of the slave ships describe, the prisoners were first branded with each master’s mark, then chained two by two and crammed as much as possible into holds, usually barely a metre high, where space was so cramped that they could not even stand up or lie down. Millions did not even survive the arduous journey.

The transatlantic slave trade was the largest forced movement of people in history. It is also considered the most inhumane.  It is estimated that more than 15 million men, women and children fell victim to it, most of them from the African coast and bound for the Americas and the Caribbean Islands.

The Ark of Return, the Permanent Memorial to Honour the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, located at the Visitors’ Plaza of UN Headquarters in New York.

UN Photo/Rick Bajornas

With this day of commemoration, the UN also wants to remember the profound effects of the transatlantic slave trade on African society … and today the looting continues…