International Day of Remembrance of victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade – in Nairobi
UNIC Nairobi hosted more than 300 students from 8 local universities to commemorate International Day of Remembrance of victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade on 23 March 2018.
The students were also invited to a panel discussion following a film screening of “Familiar Faces/unexpected Places: A Global African Diaspora.”
The discussion moderated by the UNIC Director, Nasser Ega-Musa saw a prominent lawyer and a professor from the University of Nairobi, and the two generated heated and lively conversation as the student raised their questions and observations in the interactive session. The students were interested in tying the past experience to the present life of survivors. The discussion was guided by this years’ theme: “Triumphs and Struggles for Freedom and Equality”.
The event also hosted an exhibition on “A Legacy of Black Achievement” which was displayed near one of the conference rooms. The event was a success and participants expressed wishes that more time should be allocated to such an important historical phenomenon.
Background information:
Transatlantic slave trade
The transatlantic slave trade was the largest forced migration in history, and undeniably one of the most inhumane. The extensive exodus of Africans spread to many areas of the world over a 400-year period and was unprecedented in the annals of recorded human history.
As a direct result of the transatlantic slave trade, the greatest movement of Africans was to the Americas — with 96 per cent of the captives from the African coasts arriving on cramped slave ships at ports in South America and the Caribbean Islands.
From 1501 to 1830, four Africans crossed the Atlantic for every one European, making the demographics of the Americas in that era more of an extension of the African diaspora than a European one. The legacy of this migration is still evident today, with large populations of people of African descent living throughout the Americas.
Commemorating the memory of the victims
In commemoration of the memory of the victims, the General Assembly, in its resolution 62/122 of 17 December 2007, declared 25 March the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, to be observed annually.
The resolution also called for the establishment of an outreach programme to mobilize educational institutions, civil society and other organizations to inculcate in future generations the “causes, consequences and lessons of the transatlantic slave trade, and to communicate the dangers of racism and prejudice.”
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