International Day for the Remembrance and Abolition of Slave Trade by the United Nations ( UN) is celebrated annually on August 23 to inform citizens of the injustice of transatlantic slave trafficking. This offers us an incentive to focus on the past origins, practices, and effects of slave trading.

 

In 1888 Brazil was the only nation to end slavery in the Americas. Groups in Eastern Europe united to end the Roma enslavement in Wallachia and Moldova and to emancipate the serfs in Russia. In 1948 the International Declaration of Human Rights deemed Slavery unlawful.

History

The night of 22 to 23 August 1791 saw the beginning of the revolt in Santo Domingo (today Haiti and the Dominican Republic) which would play a key role in abolishing the transatlantic slave trade.

To this backdrop, on 23 August each year is commemorated the International Day for the Remembrance of Slave Trade and its Abolition.

The aim of this International Day is to inscribe the horror of slave trafficking into the memory of all nations. It will offer a forum for the mutual study of the historical origins, practices, and implications of this catastrophe, in keeping with the aims of the intercultural initiative “The Slave Route. It has given rise to an analysis of ties between Africa,  the Americas, Europe, and the Caribbean.

UNESCO’s Director-General encourages all Member States’ Ministers of Culture to arrange activities on that date each year, including their country’s whole population and, in particular, young people, students, artists, and intellectuals.

International Day for the Memory and Emancipation of Slave Trafficking was first observed in a variety of nations, especially in Haiti (23 August 1998) and Goree in Senegal (23 August 1999). They have coordinated community activities and conferences. The year 2001 saw the presence of the Mulhouse Textile Museum in France in the form of a fabric workshop named “Indiennes de Traite” (a kind of calico) which served as a currency for slave exchanges in the 17th and 18th centuries.

What Do People Do?

Each year the UN welcomes people from all around the world, including educators, students, and musicians, to plan activities that reflect on this day’s theme. Theatre, artistic organizations, singers, and performers are involved in this day by demonstrating their opposition to slavery by events including song, dance, and drama.

Educators support the day by educating people of the real facts of slave slavery, the effects of slave slavery, and encouraging compassion and human rights. Several groups, including community organizations, policy departments, and Charities, are actively involved in the campaign to teach people regarding the harmful consequences of slave labor.

Public Life

The UN International Day for Slave Trade Remembrance and Emancipation is an observance of the United Nations worldwide which is not a public holiday.

Symbolism

Unesco’s emblem depicts a temple painting with the word “UNESCO” beneath the temple roof and on top of the base of the building. Under the temple are the terms “Educational, Technical and Cultural Organization of the United Nations” This emblem is widely used in advertising material for the International Slave Trade Remembrance Day and its Emancipation.