Jamaica was among the 123 countries that supported the adoption of a United Nations resolution endorsing the Trafficking of Enslaved Africans and Racialized Chattel Enslavement of Africans as the Gravest Crime Against Humanity, an effort led by the Republic of Ghana.

The resolution was adopted on Wednesday (March 25), as the global community commemorates the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade.

In welcoming the resolution’s adoption, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Kamina Johnson Smith, says Jamaica’s support reflects both its longstanding engagement in multilateral efforts to confront the legacy of chattel slavery and its historical ties to West Africa.

“As most Africans who arrived in Jamaica came from the ‘Gold Coast’, including present-day Ghana, the initiative carries particular resonance for us as a nation. Jamaica has consistently played an active role in the fight for reparatory justice and efforts by the international community to rectify the negative impacts that slavery has had on society and on the lives of our people”, she said.

In reflecting on the recent visit of the foreign minister of Ghana to Seville in St Ann, Johnson Smith noted that Samuel Ablakwa and his delegation were moved by the history and recognition of being at one of the earliest sites of the arrival of more than one million enslaved Africans during the transatlantic slave trade.

“Jamaica was therefore pleased to have voted in favour of the United Nations General Assembly resolution, proposed by Ghana, declaring chattel slavery as the gravest crime against humanity. The resolution was adopted on Wednesday with a vote of 123 in favour, three against and 53 abstentions. We thank John Dramani Mahama, president of the Republic of Ghana, and Samuel Ablakwa, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Ghana, for this initiative and for their steadfast efforts to bring this issue to the centre of discussions at the United Nations”, the foreign minister added.