🇺🇳 The United Nations General Assembly today adopted a landmark resolution declaring the trafficking of enslaved Africans and racialized chattel enslavement as the "gravest crime against humanity."
🔹The Vote Results
The resolution was adopted with the following breakdown:
▪️In Favor: 123 countries
▪️Against: 3 countries (United States, Israel, and Argentina)
▪️Abstentions: 52 countries (including the United Kingdom and all 27 European Unionmembers)
🔹Proposed by Ghana on behalf of the African Group, the resolution includes:
▪️Calls for a "full and formal apology," restitution of cultural artifacts, and financial compensation to address historical wrongs.
▪️Legal Recognition: It defines the transatlantic slave trade as a violation of jus cogens (peremptory norms of international law that are binding on all nations).
▪️Combating Modern Racism: It emphasizes that the legacies of slavery continue to structure global racial disparities and systemic discrimination. 
🔹The United States opposed the resolution, primarily objecting to the "attempt to rank crimes against humanity in any type of hierarchy." U.S. representatives stated that asserting some crimes are more severe than others diminishes the suffering of victims of other historical atrocities.
🔹Other Western nations that abstained expressed concerns regarding retroactive legal liabilities associated with the call for reparations.
The UN General Assembly just adopted a resolution on the enslavement of Africans as the gravest crime against humanity. Here is the vote total below - 123 in favor.
The U.S., Israel and Argentina were the only countries that voted against.
UK and France notable abstentions.