Ghana will formally table a resolution declaring the trafficking in enslaved Africans and racialized chattel enslavement as the gravest crime against humanity at the United Nations General Assembly on March 25, 2026.
President John Dramani Mahama announced this on Sunday during a media engagement in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, stating that the date was intentionally chosen to coincide with the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
“On 25th March 2026, Ghana, together with co-sponsors and with the endorsement of the African Union, will formally table the resolution before the General Assembly. The date is intentional. It connects memory with action,” President Mahama stated.
The President disclosed that the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union adopted the decision to endorse the initiative by consensus at its 39th Ordinary Session, giving Ghana a clear and unified continental mandate.
He revealed that Ghana will conduct intensive diplomatic engagements in New York beginning February 20 with CARICOM, the Non-Aligned Movement, the Group of 77 and China, the European Union, and other regional groupings.
Informal consultations on the draft text are expected to take place between February 23 and March 12, 2026, with the objective of building broad consensus for the resolution.
President Mahama announced that on March 24, Ghana will host a high-level side event at the United Nations, followed by a wreath-laying ceremony at the African Burial Ground National Monument in New York.
The President explained that the resolution is firmly grounded in international law, noting that slavery is prohibited under international law as a peremptory norm from which no derogation is permitted.
Following expert consultations, the title has been refined to read: “Declaration of the Trafficking in Enslaved Africans and Racialised Chattel Enslavement of Africans as the Gravest Crime Against Humanity.”
President Mahama called upon all UN member states to support and co-sponsor the resolution, stating that recognition is not about division but about moral courage.
“The adoption of this resolution will not erase history. But it will acknowledge it,” he said.
The President announced that following adoption, Ghana will continue engagement with the UN Secretary-General, the African Union Commission, relevant UN bodies, and interested member states on sustained dialogue regarding reparatory justice and healing.
The initiative fulfills a commitment President Mahama made at the 80th Session of the UN General Assembly in September 2025, when he announced that Ghana would lead the effort to table the resolution.
Richard Aniagyei, ISD
