Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye has urged world leaders to turn a landmark UN resolution on the transatlantic slave trade into concrete action, warning that its implementation will be ‘a test for the continent and the international community’.
Speaking at a reparatory justice conference in Accra on Thursday, Faye said the March 2026 UN General Assembly resolution marked ‘a major step for universal consciousness’.
“Thousands of men, women, and children were torn from their land, their freedom, their identity, and sometimes even their name,” Faye said.
“This resolution must not remain a symbol. It must open a new stage based on truth, memory, justice, and shared responsibility,” he added.
Faye said reparatory justice should not be seen as a measure directed against any country.
“It contributes to the construction of a more just, more balanced, and more humane international order,” he said.
He added that reparations must include “the recognition of historical truths, the restoration of dignity, the return of African cultural artefacts” and stronger ties between Africa and its diaspora.
“I hope that the Accra conference marks a new step in our collective quest for justice, dignity, and a shared future,” Faye concluded.
The conference follows the adoption of UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/80/250 on March 25, 2026, led by Ghana on behalf of the African Group.
The resolution recognised the trafficking and enslavement of Africans as the ‘gravest crime against humanity’. It was adopted with 123 votes in favour, while the United States, Israel and Argentina voted against. Fifty-two countries, including the United Kingdom and European Union member states, abstained.
The Accra conference is focused on moving the reparations debate beyond symbolic recognition, with delegates discussing practical steps on compensation, debt relief and the return of cultural artefacts taken during the colonial era.
Source: Viory
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