The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade’s offenders must make amends to the nations that were harmed by their exploitation, according to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
The President claimed that even while no amount of money could make up for the tragedies, it would demonstrate that millions of productive Africans were wrongfully taken from their continent and forced to labour for free in the Americas and the Caribbean.
At the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly, President Akufo-Addo delivered the speech. He said it was time for Europe and the United States of America to acknowledge that the immense wealth they currently enjoy was derived from the blood, sweat, and tears of slaves who were traded across the Atlantic and from centuries of colonial exploitation.
“Maybe we should also admit that it cannot be simple to establish strong and wealthy civilizations from countries that for ages had their natural resources robbed and their people trafficked as commodities,” he continued.
The world has been unable and unwilling to face the truth of the effects of the slave trade, President Akufo-Addo emphasized.
But, he said that this was progressively shifting and that it was time to push reparations firmly to the forefront.
Although the current generation did not actively practice the slave trade, it was state-sponsored and planned, and its advantages can plainly be seen in the modern economic structures of the countries that created and carried it out.
If there were any concerns about paying reparations, President Akufo-Addo made it a point to remember that when slavery was abolished, slave owners received compensation for the loss of their slaves because people were treated as property and commodities.
“There is no doubt that the world needs to address this issue and can no longer ignore it. Ghana has been given permission by the African Union (AU) to host a world conference on the subject in Accra, Ghana, in November.
Regarding the contentious issue of illicit financial outflows from Africa, he cited the report of the panel on the subject, which was presided over by the highly esteemed former South African President, Thabo Mbeki. The report claims that Africa loses more than $88 billion in annual illicit financial outflows.
“Absolutely, those funds must also be transferred back to the continent. It is unclear why the recipient nations feel at ease withholding such contributions and are content to label the nations from whom the funds are stolen as corrupt, according to President Akufo-Addo.
He thought the African Union Commission and the OECD Secretariat should work together on a task force under the supervision of the UN to develop solutions to halt the destructive outflows.
About the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, the President said Ghana, like many other countries throughout the world, was making progress on the 17 SDGs before the COVID-19 outbreak started, and she had good cause to expect she would meet the 2030 goal.
The picture we have of our performance right now is not particularly positive. We are not on track to accomplish many other targets by 2030, and the majority of the 21 targets aimed at being accomplished by 2020 have not been, he said.
In fact, only 12% of the SDG targets are on track to be met, according to the 2023 SDG report.
“On 50% of the targets, progress has been slow. The fact that we have fallen short of more than 30% of the goals is the most discouraging. The entire project needs to move forward more quickly, the President said.
