We support the President’s quest for reparative justice
President John Dramani Mahama yesterday stood at the African Burial Ground National Monument in Lower Manhattan in New York, United States, beneath the towers of a modern city to lay a wreath in honour of the nearly 20,000 Africans, both enslaved and free, whose remains rest in that sacred soil. (See the front page for story).
It was a gesture of profound solemnity, a moment when history’s weight was neither forgotten nor sanitised.
“It is a narrative that was, quite literally, branded, carved, burned, and beaten into the bones of people, human beings, including our ancestors, who are buried here,” the President said.
President Mahama’s words were a recognition that the transatlantic slave trade was not an abstract chapter but a lived horror inscribed upon bodies and communities.
President Mahama laid the wreath not only for those entombed in Manhattan but “in remembrance of all the victims of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade, the men, women and children who were taken from their lives, and from those who loved them to be enslaved in a foreign land.”
In that act of remembrance, Ghana reaffirmed a sacred commitment—that never again will such inhumanity be visited upon Africans and people of African descent.
Yet, the remembrance, however powerful, is incomplete without action. That is precisely why Ghana has taken another historic step.
Even as President Mahama honoured the dead in
New York, his administration has prepared to table a resolution today at the United Nations General Assembly to call for the formal recognition of the transatlantic slave trade as a crime against humanity.
Supported by the African Union, CARICOM and other nations, this initiative seeks to translate grief into accountability.
At the UN Headquarters in New York, yesterday, the President made it clear that political independence remained unfinished without transforming the global systems that shaped economies and opportunities.
The resolution is about understanding how historical injustices forged contemporary inequalities. It is an invitation to honest reflection, constructive dialogue and collective action to move beyond acknowledgment toward meaningful steps that will strengthen justice, dignity and shared progress.
The transatlantic slave trade disrupted societies, extracted human value on an industrial scale, and left legacies that still influence development, opportunity and vulnerability worldwide.
Recognising this history is an obligation of humanity. Ghana’s initiative aligns firmly with international law and human rights principles, affirming that certain wrongs demand accountability.
It is an undeniable reality that today’s interconnected challenges, from inequality and underdevelopment to climate change and global instability, are rooted in the injustices of past centuries.
Addressing historical wrongs is therefore integral to building the trust and cooperation required to confront the present.
The path envisioned is one of engagement, bringing together states, institutions and communities to explore constructive approaches to reparatory justice.
This may include targeted investments in education, health and economic opportunity designed to close enduring gaps and build shared prosperity.
While the international community has taken steps, notably the 2001 Durban Declaration, more is required to translate recognition into practical pathways for repair.
Every Member State of the United Nations is invited to see this draft resolution not as a burden, but as an opportunity to demonstrate that the international community can rise to its highest ideals.
Every vote in favour will affirm that the principles enshrined in the UN Charter, the equal dignity of all peoples, the universality of human rights and the peaceful resolution of grave injustices apply without exception.
The voices calling for justice have endured for centuries.
From the burial grounds of Lower Manhattan to the halls of the United Nations, Ghana has chosen to answer that call with both remembrance and resolve.
The Daily Graphic supports this dual commitment.
We honour the solemn wreath-laying, for a people who do not remember their dead cannot build a just future.
And we stand behind the resolution before the General Assembly, not merely because it is tabled by a Ghanaian President, but because it carries great credibility and embodies principles consistent with human rights and the rule of law.
