The United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution declaring the transatlantic slave trade, which lasted over four centuries, the "greatest crime against humanity." The resolution, approved by 123 nations, designates 25 March as the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery. The United States, Israel and Argentina voted against it, while major historical slave-trading nations including the United Kingdom, Portugal, the Netherlands, France, Spain and Denmark did not attend the vote. Between 1501 and 1867, approximately 15 million people, primarily from West Africa, were forcibly transported across the Atlantic, with over two million—mostly women and children—dying during the journey. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated that the "wealth of many western nations was built on stolen lives and stolen labour," citing the Royal African Company, established in 1672 by King Charles II, as instrumental in supplying enslaved Africans to British colonies. The Netherlands issued a formal apology in 2022 but stopped short of reparations, while former British Prime Minister Tony Blair expressed regret in 2007 and in 2024 maintained that nations should not apologise for historical wrongs. The US under Donald Trump once argued the legality of slavery at the time negated moral responsibility, ignoring the civil war it triggered. Britain paid £16 billion in compensation to slave owners in the 1830s, not to victims.
Tony Blair's refusal to back an apology for Britain's role in slavery, despite the country compensating slave owners with £16 billion in the 1830s, exposes a lasting moral evasion. This historical whitewashing undermines efforts to confront the systemic inequalities rooted in that era. For Nigerians, it reinforces the need to demand transparency in global narratives about colonialism and its enduring economic distortions.
