27 March 2023
[As delivered, multilingual version]
Mr. Secretary-General,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Today we gather in commemoration of the victims of one of history’s most horrific crimes against humanity.
A crime perpetrated for over 400 years.
A crime that resulted in the forced deportation of over 15 million men, women, and children.
A crime perpetrated in full view of the law.
In fact, in most cases supported by the law of those times.
The law which allowed human beings to be kept as property.
Robbed of their homes, of their bodies, of their names, slavery sought to steal their very humanity from its victims.
At the same time, in the societies built upon slave labor, every day put into question the humanity of the enslavers.
Combien de fières nations ont-été construites sur les principes de l’égalité et de la liberté en même temps qu’elles pratiquaient l’esclavage racial ?
Quel a été le coût de la liberté de certains ?
D’innombrables vies perdues et volées.
D’innombrables familles déchirées.
D’innombrables décennies de traumatismes, de travail forcé et de violence cruelle et systémique.
(French translation: How many proud nations were founded on the principles of equality and freedom while practicing racial chattel slavery?
What was the cost of the liberty of some?
Countless lives lost and stolen.
Countless families torn apart.
Countless decades of trauma, of forced labor and of cruel, systemic violence. )
A year ago, I had the chance to pay a visit to Cape Coast in Ghana. One of the former centres of slave trade.
It was a shocking experience to enter the prison cells and tunnels where human beings were imprisoned, turned into slaves, then exported to the slave markets of the New World.
I don’t think I will ever forget the feeling of horror felt there.
While the transatlantic slave trade is over, the foundations on which it stood have not been fully dismantled.
إنَّ التَّفاوُتاتِ وعَدَمِ المُساواةِ الاقِتِصاديةِ العالَمِيَةِ تَسْتَطيعُ أنْ تُؤَدِّيَ إلى العُبودِيَةِ الحَديثَة.
حَيْثُ أنَّهُ لازالت العُنْصُرِيَةَ، بِما في ذَلِكَ العُنصُرِيَةُ ضِدَّ أَصْحابِ البَشْرَةِ السّْوداء، والتَّمييز، والتَّلْوين، حاضِرَةٌ في مُجْتَمَعاتِنا.
فإنَّهُما مَعاً يُشَّكِلونَ أنْظِمَةَ تَمايُز عِرقي بَينَ البَشَر.
(Arabic translation: Global economic inequalities can regularly lead to modern slavery.
Racism, including anti-black racism, discrimination, and colorism are still present in our societies.
Together, they form systems of racial differentiation between humans and humans.)
Many Africans and people of African descent continue to feel that they are fighting an uphill battle for the recognition of an assault on their rights that was neither repaired nor rectified.
And are they wrong?
We must declare that this crime against humanity was not an authorless one.
We must acknowledge the responsibility of all the states, institutions, religious groups, businesses, banks, insurance companies and individuals who profited from slavery.
Вот почему этот День памяти так важен – потому что он создает пространство для размышлений о темной и позорной главе нашей общей истории.
Это возможность чествованть всех тех, кто стал жертвой трансатлантической работорговли, и выражать нашу признательность всем тем, кто имел мужество противостоять ей.
Это дает нам возможность посмотреть в будущее.
(Russian translation: This is why this Day of Remembrance is so important – because it creates a space for us to reflect on a dark and shameful chapter of our shared history.
A space to honour all those who fell victim to the transatlantic slave trade, and to express our gratitude to all those who had the bravery to stand up to it.
It fosters a space for us to look towards our future.)
George Orwell said that “the most effective way to destroy a people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history”.
For this reason, this year’s theme: “Fighting slavery’s legacy of racism through transformative education”, is more than timely.
As a global community, we have a duty of remembrance.
History, the facts of which should not be distorted, must serve as a lesson for all of us.
To honor the victims, and to promote a culture of respect for their descendants.
But for this duty of memory to truly be put in practice, we must reshape our education systems and curricula.
We have to do this to foster a genuine sense of justice for the victims, and to alleviate racial tensions that divide many of our societies.
We should all learn the story of Olaudah Equiano’s survival in the Middle Passage.
The significance of the 1791 uprising on the island of Saint Domingue – Haiti.
Zumbi dos Palmares’ solidarity towards his enslaved comrades.
The tale of the Garifunas and the origins of Palenqueros and Papiamento.
And we should also learn about the selfless struggle of the great abolitionists from Frederic Douglass to Harriet Beecher Stowe and Harriet Tubman.
Good people who were brave enough to stand up against the dominant ideologies of their times.
This is also our shared memory.
Through education, we can confute any revisionism with undisputable facts.
Through education, we can raise awareness of the dangers caused by misconceptions of supremacy – whether past or present.
Through education, we can ensure that no one will ever experience the hell lived by the 15 million we commemorate today.
And so, through education, the painful stories of racism can be transformed into a future of peace.
A future that is rooted in justice, equality, respect and dignity.
I thank you.
Credit
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe