International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade is a
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
international observance designated in 2007 to be marked on 25 March every year.
The day honours and remembers those who suffered and died as a consequence of the
transatlantic slave trade, which has been called "the worst violation of human rights in history", in which over 400 years more than 15 million men, women and children were the victims.
["International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade 25 March"]
United Nations.
History
It was first observed in 2008 with the theme "Breaking the Silence, Lest We Forget". The theme of 2015 was "Women and Slavery".
The International Day also "aims at
raising awareness
Consciousness raising (also called awareness raising) is a form of activism popularized by United States feminists in the late 1960s. It often takes the form of a group of people attempting to focus the attention of a wider group on some cause or ...
about the dangers of racism and prejudice today".
With 2015 marking the start of the UN's
, a permanent memorial was unveiled at the UN headquarters in New York, entitled "The Ark of Return" and designed by
Haitian-American
Haitian Americans (french: Haïtiens-Américains; ht, ayisyen ameriken) are a group of Americans of full or partial Haitian origin or descent. The largest proportion of Haitians in the United States live in Little Haiti to the South Florida area ...
architect
Rodney Leon, who also designed the
African Burial Ground National Monument
African Burial Ground National Monument is a monument at Duane Street and African Burial Ground Way (Elk Street) in the Civic Center section of Lower Manhattan, New York City. Its main building is the Ted Weiss Federal Building at 290 Broadway. ...
.
[Robert Bernstein]
"The Arc of Return: The UN Unveils 'The Permanent Memorial to Honour the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade'"
''Island Voice'', 1 April 2015.
See also
*
History of slavery
*
International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition
*
United Nations Slavery Memorial
References
External links
* {{Official website, https://www.un.org/en/events/slaveryremembranceday/
International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Tradeon the
United Nations Population Fund website
United Nations days
March observances
Remembrance days
Slavery in Africa