Global Community Marks International Day for Remembrance of Slave Trade and Abolition

Today across the globe is International Day for the Remembrance of Slave Trade and its Abolition.

The day, celebrated on August twenty-three every year, was set aside by UNESCO in 1998 to among other things, raise awareness about the horrifying nature of the slave trade that affected over fifteen million people for more than forty years as well as it’s imprecations.

International Day for the remembrance of the slave trade and its abolition, also observed in memory of all victims of the slave trade, aspires to promote critical examinations of such behaviours that could lead to modern forms of exploitation and slavery.

In his message to mark this year’s celebration, the United Nations Secretary- General, Mr. Antonio Guterres, said that the day calls for paying of tribute to the millions of Africans, who were torn from their homelands and communities plus standing up in solidarity against racism everywhere to build societies based on dignity, equality and solidarity.

This year’s International Day for the remembrance of the victims of slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade has “Stories of Courage: Resistance to Slavery and Unity against Racism” as its theme.