Crimes of the transatlantic slave trade ‘unacknowledged, unspoken and unaddressed’

Addressing the General Assembly, Secretary-General António Guterres warned that systemic racism, economic exclusion and racial violence continue to deny people of African descent the opportunity to thrive.

He called on governments to acknowledge the truth and finally honour the trade’s legacy by taking action.  

“For too long, the crimes of the transatlantic slave trade – and their ongoing impact – have remained unacknowledged, unspoken and unaddressed,” he said, denouncing erasure of history, rewriting of narratives and dismissal of slavery’s intrinsic harm.

“The obscene profits derived from chattel slavery and the racist ideologies that underpinned the trade are still with us,” he added.

Four centuries of abuse

For over four centuries, an estimated 25 to 30 million Africans – nearly a third of the continent’s population at the time – were forcibly taken from their homelands. Many did not survive the brutal journey across the Atlantic.

The exploitation and suffering – families torn apart, entire communi...
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