GHANA TAKES SLAVERY REPARATIONS CAMPAIGN TO UN AS MAHAMA PUSHES FOR ‘NEXT STEPS’
ACCRA — Ghana is taking its campaign for reparatory justice into a new phase, with President John Dramani Mahama announcing plans for a high-level side event during the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York this September.
Mahama, who serves as the African Union Champion for Reparations, said Ghana will use the meeting to assess progress and build international support for justice, restitution and reparatory measures for Africans and people of African descent.
The initiative follows a landmark UN General Assembly resolution adopted in March 2026, which declared the trafficking and enslavement of Africans the “gravest crime against humanity.”
A HISTORY THAT STILL ECHOES
For centuries, millions of Africans were forcibly removed from their homes and transported across the Atlantic to the Americas. Between the 15th and 19th centuries, an estimated 12.5 million Africans were embarked on slave ships, with millions subjected to brutal forced labour and generations of exploitation.
West Africa was at the centre of this trade. Present-day Ghana became a major hub, with European-built forts and castles along its coast serving as trading and holding centres. Elmina Castle and Cape Coast Castle remain powerful reminders of that history.
Although Britain abolished its transatlantic slave trade in 1807 and slavery was subsequently abolished across much of the Atlantic world, the economic and social consequences of the trade and slavery endured long after abolition.
Ghana now argues that historical acknowledgement must be followed by meaningful action.
At a Next Steps conference in Accra in June, the country expanded its reparations agenda to include indentured labour and established three bodies focused on reparatory justice, cultural heritage restitution and international legal strategy.
The campaign is increasingly shifting the debate from recognition of historical wrongdoing to questions of responsibility, restitution and compensation.
As Ghana prepares to take the issue back to the UN, the question confronting the international community is becoming harder to avoid:
If the history can finally be acknowledged, what should be done about its consequences?
