France abstained from voting on a UN resolution declaring the African slave trade as the most heinous crime against humanity at the end of March because it “refuses to create a hierarchy between crimes against humanity,” said the French Minister of Foreign Affairs to AFP on Friday.
During an official two-day visit to Lome, Jean-Yves Le Drian also advocated for the lifting of the suspension of France 24 and Radio France Internationale in Togo. The last visit by a French Minister of Foreign Affairs to this West African coastal country was in 2002.
Le Drian stated, “If we abstained from this resolution, it is because we refuse to create a hierarchy between crimes against humanity, to put in competition the sufferings that these abominations and crimes continue to provoke today.” He added, “But it is essential, if we want to build a common future, to be able to do this work of memory and truth about our past, in its positive aspects as well as its darkest facets.”
The resolution, with 123 votes in favor, 3 against (United States, Israel, Argentina), and 52 abstentions (including the United Kingdom and EU member states), declares the trade of Africans reduced to slavery and the racialized slavery of Africans as “the most serious crimes against humanity,” condemning this “most inhumane and persistent injustice committed against humanity.” The resolution was introduced by Ghanaian President John Mahama, whose country was the first on the continent to achieve independence in 1957. Transatlantic slavery facilitated the trade of millions of people from West and Central Africa.
The resolution calls on countries to engage in a process of justice to right the wrongs of the past, including formal apologies, compensation for descendants of victims, policies to combat racism, and the restitution of looted cultural and spiritual goods.
