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PoliticsAfrica

UN recognizes slavery as 'gravest crime against humanity'

April 2, 2026

The UN has passed a landmark resolution on the slave trade with 123 votes in favor. The countries that profited from the trade voted against it or abstained. DW speaks to Professor Olivette Otele about this divide.

https://p.dw.com/p/5BbvN

A UN vote on calling the transatlantic slave trade "the gravest crime against humanity" has exposed a sharp global divide: the US, Israel and Argentina opposed the resolution, the EU abstained, and most of the Global South backed it. Scholar Olivette Otele links the split to colonial legacies, fears over reparations and differing approaches to historical responsibility, as debates over apology, restitution and global power dynamics intensify.