Fatimah Otunsanya
The President of Ghana, John Mahama, is seeking global recognition of the transatlantic slave trade as the gravest crime against humanity.
Mahama has initiated processes to table a resolution at the United Nations General Assembly in March, a move first announced during the 80th Session of UNGA in September 2025.
“Reparatory justice will not be handed to us. Like independence, it must be secured through unity and determination,” he wrote in a post on X on Sunday.
Mahama’s comment followed his report to the 39th Assembly of the African Union Heads of State on advancing the cause of justice and the payment of reparations to Africans and people of African descent.
The President noted that 2025, designated as the AU Year of Justice through Reparations, marked a turning point, citing the establishment of the AU Coordination Team and Committee of Experts on Reparations.
Mahama urged member states to strengthen institutions, establish national reparations commissions, and engage with the global community to secure apologies, restitution, and binding agreements.
The transatlantic slave trade, which occurred from the 16th to 19th century, was a system that forcibly transported over 12.5 million African men, women, and children to the Americas for enslaved labour.
The UN, which adopted December 2 as International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, insists modern slavery is on the rise. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) said forced labour and marriages increased in the last five years.
The ILO found that 10 million more people were in modern slavery in 2021 compared to 2016 global estimates, resulting in 50 million worldwide, while women and children remain the most vulnerable.
Cases of enslaved people are still reported in many countries, but more than half (52 per cent) of all forced labour and a quarter of all forced marriages can be found in upper-middle-income or high-income countries.
According to the ILO Profits and Poverty report, the annual global profit generated from enslavement is estimated at $236 billion — $10,000 per victim of annual illegal profits from forced labour.
The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute recently bemoaned the millions trapped in forced labour and human trafficking, urging the legal community and governments to brace efforts to eradicate modern slavery.