Trump’s America Refuses to Recognize Slavery as Crime Against Humanity

On Wednesday, the U.S., Israel, and Argentina were the only countries to reject the formal recognition of the trans-Atlantic slave trade—which saw millions of Africans kidnapped, trafficked, brutalized, and dehumanized for centuries—as the “gravest crime against humanity.” The United Nations resolution also called for reparations, and was adopted with 123 votes in favor and 52 abstentions, in addition to the three “no” votes.

“The trafficking of enslaved Africans and racialized chattel enslavement of Africans [was] the gravest crime against humanity by reason of the definitive break in world history, scale, duration, systemic nature, brutality and enduring consequences that continue to structure the lives of all people through racialized regimes of labour, property and capital,” the Ghana-backed resolution read.

The UN General Assembly has adopted a Ghana-led resolution recognising transatlantic slavery as the “gravest crime against humanity,” passing despite opposition from the US, Israel, Argentina, and European countries. pic.twitter.com/2iQKWst8mf

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) March 26, 2026

The “no” votes are unsurprising. The U.S. used slave labor to develop into a world power, treating Black people as chattel and denying them de facto and de jure basic rights in the process. Israel is currently one of the most genocidal nations on earth. And Argentina—a country that has attempted to erase Black people from its history for centuries—is currently ruled by the far-right regime of President Javier Milei.

Dozens of European countries also abstained, perhaps even more cowardly than an outright “no” given the leading roles that countries like the U.K., Portugal, France, Austria, and Denmark all played in the slave trade, building their wealth off the backs of enslaved African labor. If reparations were to be approved, they’d be the ones paying up.

“Every part of this feels like an Onion meme,” geopolitical content creator Eric Hovagim wrote on X. “Israel + US are pro slavery, EU too chicken to say they also love slavery, AND the resolution isn’t even legally binding. Pathetic.”

Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama also criticized the United States for its present role in perpetuating the lasting harms of the slave trade.

“Here in the United States, Black history courses are being removed from school curriculum. Schools have been mandated to stop teaching students about the truth of slavery, segregation, and racism in American history courses. Books about those topics are being banned in public schools and libraries,” Mahama said. “These policies are becoming a template for other governments, as well as some private institutions. At the very least, they are slowly normalizing the erasure.”

Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama, speaking at the United Nations in New York, criticized the US for normalizing the erasure of Black history and warned such policies could have wider global impact https://t.co/Zl7FdIIRGH pic.twitter.com/PP8ib9MkCP

— Reuters (@Reuters) March 25, 2026