Argentina votes against UN resolution on transatlantic slave trade

Argentina has voted against a United Nations resolution declaring the transatlantic African slave trade “the gravest crime against humanity,” joining only the United States and Israel in opposing the measure.

The resolution was adopted to applause Wednesday by a vote of 123 in favour, three against and 52 abstentions, including Britain and several member states of the European Union. Advocates hailed it as a step towards healing and possible reparations.

"The transatlantic slave trade was a crime against humanity that struck at the core of personhood, broke up families, and devastated communities," UN Secretary-General António Guterres said.

"To justify the unjustifiable, slavery's proponents and beneficiaries constructed a racist ideology – turning prejudice into a pseudoscience."

Ghana's President John Mahama, one of the African Union's most vocal supporters of slavery reparations, was at the United Nations headquarters to support the vote. His nation proposed the statement.

"Today, we come together in solemn solidarity to affirm truth and pursue a route to healing and reparative justice. The adoption of this resolution serves as a safeguard against forgetting," said Mahama.

The resolution went beyond simple acknowledgment, asking nations involved in the slave trade to engage in restorative justice.

The resolution declared "the trafficking of enslaved Africans and racialised chattel enslavement of Africans as the gravest crime against humanity."

The text also highlighted the legacy of slavery via "the persistence of racial discrimination and neo-colonialism" in today's society.

Argentina’s vote is a reflection of the nation’s foreign policy direction under President Javier Milei, whose government has taken a more critical stance toward the United Nations and has aligned more closely with Washington and Israel in multilateral forums.

The United States called the text "highly problematic."

"The United States also does not recognise a legal right to reparations for historical wrongs that were not illegal under international law at the time they occurred," said US ambassador Dan Negrea.

"The United States also strongly objects to the resolution's attempt to rank crimes against humanity in any type of hierarchy," he added.

Britain and EU countries advanced similar arguments while acknowledging the wrongs of slavery. 

The resolution "risks pitting historical tragedies against each other that should not be compared, except at the expense of the memory of the victims," said French representative Sylvain Fournel.

Ghanaian Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa on Tuesday dismissed criticism that the text sought to rank human suffering.

He also alleged that some nations had refused to acknowledge their crimes.

"The perpetrators of the transatlantic slave trade are known, the Europeans, the United States of America. We expect all of them to formally apologize to Africa and to all people of African descent," he said.

One pathway toward restorative justice, he said, is that "all the looted artifacts are returned to the motherland."

He also suggested that institutions continue to address structural racism and that "compensation" could be offered to those affected.

– TIMES/AFP