The United Nations Outreach Programme on the Transatlantic Slave Trade and Slavery (UN Slavery Remembrance)
The Slavery Remembrance programme was established in 2007 to increase awareness about the history and the legacies of the transatlantic slave trade (the forced transportation of millions of Africans as slaves, mostly from West Africa to the Americas, over some 400 years from the 15th to the 19th centuries), and to promote action against racism. It was mandated by the United Nations General Assembly resolution responding to the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade (25 March 2007) and designating this date the International Day for the Remembrance of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade. The United Nations works closely with youth, civil society, educators, and governments across the globe to mobilise action on this issue.
UNIC Caribbean has promoted this programme (in English and Dutch-speaking countries of the region) with advocacy [link to page featuring related commemorations?] around United Nations commemorations and activities that support its themes and outreach goals.
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This year, our Slavery Remembrance outreach includes display of the Rijksmuseum exhibition, slavery: ten true stories, which relates the experience of Dutch colonial slavery from a variety of perspectives: persons who were enslaved, those who kept slaves, those who resisted, and those who were taken in slavery to the Netherlands. The exhibition includes stories from Sint Maarten and Suriname.
The UNIC has collaborated with Rijksmuseum and partners in Dutch-speaking Caribbean countries to produce the poster edition of the exhibition for on-site and online audiences in the region. The exhibit is to be mounted this year in Aruba, Curacao, Sint Maarten, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago and will be available for online viewing until 31 December 2024. The exhibit was first displayed by the United Nations at its headquarters in New York in March 2023.
- Address by Sir Hilary Beckles, Vice Chancelor of The University of the West Indies, to the United Nations General Assembly (2024)
- UN Chronicle: From Local Moments to Global Movement: Reparation Mechanisms and a Development Framework (Sir Hilary Beckles, 25 March 2024)
The legacy and lessons of slavery and the slave trade are promoted by several other United Nations commemorations and observances.
International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination Amanda may want to include a blurb here about what the observance is about Background notes (word document) - 2010
UNIC Caribbean observances (from Amanda) link with ‘tile’ or display here on this page UNIC Director addresses commemorative event: “One Love – Many Voices” (a musical celebration of diversity) at Lowlands Mall, Tobago, 21 March 2015. [Poster and photo]
Nelson Mandela International Day
Blurb about the Day etc
Nelson Mandela International Day (18 July)
Link with ‘tile’ / or display here UNIC Caribbean commemorations and events for the Day
-Open Houses
- Tobago – Healing with Horses Camp
- NMD Newspaper feature (2010 or 2011)
International Day for People of African Descent (31 August)
International Year for People of African Descent and International Decade for People of African Descent
Related UNIC Caribbean campaigns and activities:
- Let’s Fight Racism – current campaign link: Fight racism | United Nations
o Primary schools/library campaign - 2013
- Dialogues for Slavery project [can’t remember what this is]
- World Conference Against Racism – Durban Declaration https://www.un.org/en/conferences/racism/durban2001
The Ark of Return
A Permanent Memorial to the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade located in the United Nations Visitors Plaza in New York.
Video: https://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1r/k1r8gc4fi4
Short promo video (60 seconds) is at the Ark of Return site home page: https://www.un.org/en/rememberslavery/memorial