Commemorative Meeting – International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade<\/strong><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
There are some things we wish we could forget. There are some pieces of humanity\u2019s past we may want to wish away. But we cannot.<\/p>\n
Today we acknowledge. Today we consider. Today, we remember!<\/p>\n
The vicious and inhumane system of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade remains a stain on the fabric of human history. Today, we mark this International Day of Remembrance. We pause to reflect on what occurred, its impact on our present, and how to ensure it is never repeated.<\/p>\n
Remembering Slavery is not an abstract exercise. We know that over 18 million women, men and children were victims of enslavement. They resisted and struggled and fought for freedom. They endured 400 years of exploitation and abuse. People, like you and I, treated instead like chattel \u2013 bought, sold, traded, inherited and disposed of. Generations of leaders and ordinary citizens perpetuated, condoned or turned a blind eye.<\/p>\n
The philosopher Edmund Burke once said \u201cThose who do not know history are doomed to repeat it.\u201d<\/em> The factors that gave rise to and entrenched Slavery must be understood. We must watch for them. We must counter them when they appear.<\/p>\nDiscrimination, racism and xenophobia continue to plague our world. People are still stripped of their humanity \u2013 exploited and abused for economic gain. Who can forget the images of men shackled together and being sold in an open market. I am not speaking about centuries past, but just months ago along the coast of Libya. Those incidents rightfully provoked outrage and immediate action. Countless more no doubt go undetected; passing through new \u201cdoors of no return\u201d.<\/p>\n
Divisive and dehumanising rhetoric is on the rise. Minorities and the vulnerable are targeted as the cause of problems. We must look at these warning signs and take corrective and preventive action.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Excellencies<\/em>,<\/p>\nwhen we remember Slavery, we must do so to learn its lessons and commit not to repeat past mistakes.<\/p>\n
Second, we should recognise Slavery\u2019s nefarious impact on our present realities.<\/p>\n
Many challenges we now grapple with were reinforced by the horrific system of Slavery. The solutions are therefore linked to addressing its legacies.<\/p>\n
We now speak of sustainable development \u2013 leaving no one behind. Therefore, we should bear in mind the social and economic inequalities entrenched through Slavery.<\/p>\n
Addressing discrimination; countering imbalanced economic structures; balancing access to education, healthcare, decent work; guaranteeing access to justice. These resonate with our SDGs. And they would go a long way to unravelling Slavery\u2019s devastating impact on millions of people and their descendants.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Lastly, Excellencies,<\/em><\/p>\nIt is for us to ensure that we never again descend to that low point. We can do so by educating current and future generations about Slavery and its impacts. But also by teaching about the struggles, the challenges and the victories.<\/p>\n
And we have the tools to spread the message. \u00a0Whether through educational curricula, in exhibits or in film or via social media. The Ark of Return<\/em>, standing prominently outside this Hall, stands as a reminder of our collective commitment to do so.<\/p>\nWe cannot undo the past. But we can make the future. Today we remember and honour those who suffered in Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade.<\/p>\n
We honour them by promoting tolerance, justice, and human dignity. We honour them by combatting racism; by ending human trafficking; by upholding the basic tenet that we are \u201call born equal, in freedom and dignity\u201d.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_divider _builder_version=”3.0.69″ divider_style=”solid” divider_position=”top” height=”150″ hide_on_mobile=”on” \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Statement delivered by\u00a0H.E. Dr. Amrith Rohan Perera, Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations and Vice President of the General Assembly, on behalf of H.E. Mr. Miroslav Laj\u010d\u00e1k, President of the 72nd Session of the UN General Assembly, at the\u00a0Commemorative Meeting – International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":202,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[69,65,53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-144645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","category-newsandupdates","category-statements","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n
International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade - General Assembly of the United Nations<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/2018\/03\/26\/international-day-of-remembrance-of-the-victims-of-slavery-and-the-transatlantic-slave-trade-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade - General Assembly of the United Nations\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Statement delivered by\u00a0H.E. Dr. Amrith Rohan Perera, Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations and Vice President of the General Assembly, on behalf of H.E. Mr. Miroslav Laj\u010d\u00e1k, President of the 72nd Session of the UN General Assembly, at the\u00a0Commemorative Meeting - International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/2018\/03\/26\/international-day-of-remembrance-of-the-victims-of-slavery-and-the-transatlantic-slave-trade-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"General Assembly of the United Nations\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-03-26T19:43:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Katharina Kandt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Katharina Kandt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/2018\/03\/26\/international-day-of-remembrance-of-the-victims-of-slavery-and-the-transatlantic-slave-trade-2\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/2018\/03\/26\/international-day-of-remembrance-of-the-victims-of-slavery-and-the-transatlantic-slave-trade-2\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Katharina Kandt\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/#\/schema\/person\/06bf09e43d46846c087701ec99ac8412\"},\"headline\":\"International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-03-26T19:43:01+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/2018\/03\/26\/international-day-of-remembrance-of-the-victims-of-slavery-and-the-transatlantic-slave-trade-2\/\"},\"wordCount\":756,\"articleSection\":[\"Blog\",\"News And Updates - homepage\",\"Statements\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/2018\/03\/26\/international-day-of-remembrance-of-the-victims-of-slavery-and-the-transatlantic-slave-trade-2\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/2018\/03\/26\/international-day-of-remembrance-of-the-victims-of-slavery-and-the-transatlantic-slave-trade-2\/\",\"name\":\"International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade - General Assembly of the United Nations\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-03-26T19:43:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/#\/schema\/person\/06bf09e43d46846c087701ec99ac8412\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/2018\/03\/26\/international-day-of-remembrance-of-the-victims-of-slavery-and-the-transatlantic-slave-trade-2\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/2018\/03\/26\/international-day-of-remembrance-of-the-victims-of-slavery-and-the-transatlantic-slave-trade-2\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/2018\/03\/26\/international-day-of-remembrance-of-the-victims-of-slavery-and-the-transatlantic-slave-trade-2\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/\",\"name\":\"General Assembly of the United Nations\",\"description\":\"President of the 72nd Session\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/#\/schema\/person\/06bf09e43d46846c087701ec99ac8412\",\"name\":\"Katharina Kandt\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5e28c19bf52d2ea02ca4d78c4548f4e118fe08e94744f59f7938769a04ae856e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5e28c19bf52d2ea02ca4d78c4548f4e118fe08e94744f59f7938769a04ae856e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Katharina Kandt\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/author\/kandtun-org\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade - General Assembly of the United Nations","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/2018\/03\/26\/international-day-of-remembrance-of-the-victims-of-slavery-and-the-transatlantic-slave-trade-2\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade - General Assembly of the United Nations","og_description":"Statement delivered by\u00a0H.E. Dr. Amrith Rohan Perera, Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations and Vice President of the General Assembly, on behalf of H.E. Mr. Miroslav Laj\u010d\u00e1k, President of the 72nd Session of the UN General Assembly, at the\u00a0Commemorative Meeting - International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade","og_url":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/2018\/03\/26\/international-day-of-remembrance-of-the-victims-of-slavery-and-the-transatlantic-slave-trade-2\/","og_site_name":"General Assembly of the United Nations","article_published_time":"2018-03-26T19:43:01+00:00","author":"Katharina Kandt","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Katharina Kandt","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/2018\/03\/26\/international-day-of-remembrance-of-the-victims-of-slavery-and-the-transatlantic-slave-trade-2\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/2018\/03\/26\/international-day-of-remembrance-of-the-victims-of-slavery-and-the-transatlantic-slave-trade-2\/"},"author":{"name":"Katharina Kandt","@id":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/#\/schema\/person\/06bf09e43d46846c087701ec99ac8412"},"headline":"International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade","datePublished":"2018-03-26T19:43:01+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/2018\/03\/26\/international-day-of-remembrance-of-the-victims-of-slavery-and-the-transatlantic-slave-trade-2\/"},"wordCount":756,"articleSection":["Blog","News And Updates - homepage","Statements"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/2018\/03\/26\/international-day-of-remembrance-of-the-victims-of-slavery-and-the-transatlantic-slave-trade-2\/","url":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/2018\/03\/26\/international-day-of-remembrance-of-the-victims-of-slavery-and-the-transatlantic-slave-trade-2\/","name":"International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade - General Assembly of the United Nations","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-03-26T19:43:01+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/#\/schema\/person\/06bf09e43d46846c087701ec99ac8412"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/2018\/03\/26\/international-day-of-remembrance-of-the-victims-of-slavery-and-the-transatlantic-slave-trade-2\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/2018\/03\/26\/international-day-of-remembrance-of-the-victims-of-slavery-and-the-transatlantic-slave-trade-2\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/2018\/03\/26\/international-day-of-remembrance-of-the-victims-of-slavery-and-the-transatlantic-slave-trade-2\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/","name":"General Assembly of the United Nations","description":"President of the 72nd Session","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/#\/schema\/person\/06bf09e43d46846c087701ec99ac8412","name":"Katharina Kandt","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5e28c19bf52d2ea02ca4d78c4548f4e118fe08e94744f59f7938769a04ae856e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5e28c19bf52d2ea02ca4d78c4548f4e118fe08e94744f59f7938769a04ae856e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Katharina Kandt"},"url":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/author\/kandtun-org\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/202"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144645\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/72\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}