Nigeria today joined the rest of the world in commemorating the annual International Day For The Remembrance Of Slavery And Its Abolition.
The theme of this year’s celebration is “Modern Day Slavery, A National Question: Protecting the Future Generation”
The event currently taking place at the National Press Centre, Radio House in Abuja is hosted by the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, in collaboration with her parastatals, UNESCO, and other stakeholders.
The International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition is an annual commemoration of the transatlantic slave trade observed on August 23rd, as declared by UNESCO.
August 23 was chosen by the adoption of resolution 29 C/40 by the Organisation’s General Conference at its 29th session. Circular CL/3494 of July 29, 1998, from the Director-General, invited Ministers of Culture to promote the day.
The day is notable because a rebellion broke out on the island of Saint Domingue (now known as Haiti) on the night of August 22 to August 23, 1791, setting in motion events that led to the end of the transatlantic slave trade.
This day also offers the opportunity to inscribe the tragedy of the slave trade in the memory of all peoples; to honour and remember those who suffered and died at the hands of the brutal slavery system.
Every year on that date, UNESCO Member States host events in which young people, educators, artists, and intellectuals are invited to participate. It provides an occasion for collective acknowledgment and focus on the “historic causes, tactics, and consequences” of slavery, as part of the global UNESCO project “The Slave Route.”
It also lays the stage for an examination and discussion of the interconnections that led to the transatlantic human trafficking trade between Africa, Europe, the Americas, and the Caribbean.
Over 30 million Africans were deported from different parts of Africa & enslaved across the world.
