Congressional Black Caucus Endorses UN Resolution Declaring Slavery Among 'The Gravest Crimes Against Humanity’

WASHINGTON, DC – The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) us giving its “full and emphatic endorsement” of a United Nations General Assembly resolution filed by Ghana declaring the trafficking and racialized, inter-generational chattel enslavement of Africans as among the gravest crimes against humanity.

The CBC position comes as the global community Wednesday observes the International Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Transatlantic Trafficking of Africans.

Caribbean-American Congresswoman, Yvette D. Clarke, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, said CBC hailed the efforts of the African Union, which dedicated its 2025 Theme of the Year to “Justice for Africans and People of African Descent Through Reparations,” and launched, in its last Summit that convened earlier in February, a corresponding Decade from 2026 to 2035.

“Throughout history, progress has demanded more than good intentions—it has required moral courage and bold action. This resolution rises to that standard. It confronts entrenched global challenges with clarity of purpose and a visionary approach to structural change.

“By aligning principle with collective action, it reflects a profound commitment to justice, accountability, and opportunity for Africans and people of African descent worldwide,” Clarke added.

She said that at defining moments, societies either retreat into complacency or rise to meet the demands of justice.

“This resolution represents the latter. It signals our readiness to act with conviction, foresight, and unity across borders and generations.”

Clarke, the CBC chair, said the resolution’s adoption would “lay the foundation for generational progress, global solidarity, and renewed public trust in the international community’s commitment to addressing institutional racism”.

Clarke said CBC calls on UN member states to “seize this historic moment, adopt the resolution, and affirm their commitment to building a more just, equitable, and unified world, free from the enduring legacies of transatlantic enslavement, colonialism, and apartheid, which were classified by the African Union, in its latest Summit in Addis Ababa, as crimes against humanity”.