UN Resolution Declares the Transatlantic Slave Trade 'The Gravest Crime Against Humanity'

This week, the UN General Assembly passed a non-binding resolution declaring the transatlantic slave trade "the gravest crime against humanity." The BBC wants to know … what does that vote on slavery mean?

'The gravest crime against humanity': What does the UN vote on slavery mean? https://t.co/RsPAX55g56
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) March 28, 2026

How many UN countries still practice slavery? Fernando Duarte reports:

The United Nations General Assembly this week overwhelmingly backed a resolution declaring the transatlantic slave trade "the gravest crime against humanity".
Welcoming the vote, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that the wealth of many Western nations was "built on stolen lives and stolen labour".
Noting the "barbaric punishments that maintained control - from shackles and iron collars to flogging and sexual violence", he said it "was not simply forced labour".
"It was a machinery of mass exploitation and deliberate dehumanisation of men, women and children. The wounds run deep and often go unrecognised."
The resolution, backed by African and Caribbean countries, is not legally binding but analysts say it sends a powerful message.

Nothing the UN passes is legally binding. The United States, Argentina, and Israel voted against it. The rest of the BBC's piece is concerned with reparations.

So, what does it mean?

That the UN knows nothing about the slave trade and who was instrumental in it.

Nor who stopped it.
— Miss Jo (@therealmissjo) March 28, 2026

It means nothing until it also includes the African Countries who captured and sold slaves to the whole world like cattle.
— Country Joe (@Happyja) March 28, 2026

Nothing. Slavery still exists and no one cares. They just want to cry about the countries that got rid of it.
— Plato_or_playdoh (@platoORplaydoh) March 28, 2026

Nothing, absolutely nothing.
The United Nations is a feckless, inept, incompetent and impotent organization.
— Willie V (@WillieV73404398) March 28, 2026

Money grab, by those who never were slaves, from those who never held slaves.

U.N., go deal with modern day slavery first.
— TM-62M Řǒômbā (@ctdonath) March 28, 2026

It means a lot of Africans and Arab countries are going to get a reminder of a majority of their history as slavers.
— DTQC (@Logical_TD) March 28, 2026

Well, I guess Nazi Germany wasn’t so bad after all according to the UN.
— Mr. Ed (@MrEddieTarazona) March 28, 2026

Maybe the holocaust or Stalin’s Great Purge would be in that category too.
— Craig D. (@Craig89082057) March 28, 2026

It means absolutely nothing
— ZimZam99 (@ChuckZ123) March 28, 2026

It served to show the UN is a pariah worthy of defunding. The US is done with that bullshit.
— MR X (@uxcn53) March 28, 2026

Can anyone explain the relevance of this vote?
— David Parrish (@parrishdb71) March 28, 2026

No, because it has no relevance. It's just another non-binding resolution.

It means nothing, especially since many of those nations that voted for it refuse to acknowledge their own role in the history of slavery- mostly African and Middle Eastern nations. The West has owned its part, now we’re still waiting for the others to do the same.
— Whitney Lindsay (@Linzwhitney) March 28, 2026

Note that the resolution specifically named the transatlantic slave trade for a reason.

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