International Day of Remembrance of the Victim

International Day of Remembrance of the Victims

of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade 

2014 Theme: “Victory over Slavery: Haiti and Beyond”

For over 400 years, more than 15 million men, women and children were the victims of the tragic Transatlantic Slave Trade, one of the darkest chapters in human history.

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 this 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 posts in South America and the Caribbean Islands.

From 1501 to 1830, four Enslaved 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.

Every year on 25 March, the International Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade offers the opportunity to honour and remember those who suffered and died at the hands of the brutal slavery system. The International Day also aims at raising awareness about the dangers of racism and prejudice today.

Sources:

http://www.un.org/en/events/slaveryremembranceday/

http://www.unric.org/en/latest-un-buzz/29115-remember-honour-and-seek-change