Namibia was on Wednesday amongst the leading nations that overwhelmingly voted to have the transatlantic chattel slave trade declared as the “gravest crime against humanity” and called for reparations as “a concrete step towards remedying historical wrongs”.

The voting took place at the UN General Assembly, which saw Namibia and another 122 countries all voting in favour of the UN resolution, which pursues to criminalise slavery.

The United States, Israel and Argentina were the only three countries that voted against, while a total of 52 European Union countries abstained from Wednesday’s voting. 

The resolution, proposed by Ghana’s president John Dramani Mahama and supported by the African Union, Caribbean Community (Caricom) as well as various Asian countries, seeks to address historical wrongs affecting Africans and people of the diaspora in a manner that promotes justice, human rights, dignity, healing and claims for reparations.

For more than 400 years, millions of Africans were stolen from the continent, put in shackles and shipped to the Americas to toil in cotton fields, sugar and coffee plantations under inhumane conditions and the crack of the whip. 

European slave ships established a coastal slave trade route in the 15th century, and trade to the Americas began in the 16th century, lasting through the 19th century.

The vast majority of those who were transported in the transatlantic slave trade were from Central and West Africa and were captured directly by European slave traders in coastal slave raids on African shores, before being brought to the Western hemisphere. 

Seeking justice

Namibia and other countries that voted in favour of the resolution said there is an urgent need for UN member states to confront slavery’s lasting legacies of inequality and racism, which they argued are important to eradicate systemic racism, ensure reparatory justice and accelerate inclusive development globally. 

The countries are particularly calling for reparatory justice for inclusive, accessible and accelerated development in areas of education, health, employment and housing
in order to address the lasting legacies of slavery.  The resolution does however not mention a specific amount of money for reparations, but speaks of setting up a UN-managed Reparations Fund for that purpose.

– ohembapu@nepc.com.na