- For over 400 years, more than 15 million men, women and children were the victims of the tragic transatlantic slave trade, one of the darkest chapters in human history.
- Every year on 25 March, the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade offers the opportunity to honour and remember those who suffered and died at the hands of the brutal slavery system.
- The International Day also aims to raise awareness about the dangers of racism and prejudice today.
- In order to more permanently honour the victims, a memorial has been erected at United Nations Headquarters in New York. The unveiling took place on 25th March 2015.
- The transatlantic slave trade was the largest forced migration in history, and undeniably one of the most inhumane. The extensive exodus of Africans spread to many areas of the world.
- As a direct result of the transatlantic slave trade, the greatest movement of Africans was to the Americas, with 96 percent of the captives from the African coasts arriving on cramped slave ships at ports in South America and the Caribbean Islands.
- In commemoration of the memory of the victims, the General Assembly, in its resolution 62/122 of 17th December 2007, declared 25th March the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, to be observed annually.
- The theme 2021 is“Ending Slavery’s Legacy of Racism: A Global Imperative for Justice”. One devastating legacy of the transatlantic slave trade was racism. Historically, it was used to justify the enslavement of Africans. And today, it has led to people of African descent being relegated to the poorest and most marginalized sectors of society.
