The United Nations General Assembly has voted to recognise the enslavement of Africans during the transatlantic slave trade as “the gravest crime against humanity”, in a move supporters say is aimed at confronting historical injustice and advancing reparatory justice.
But the vote exposed a clear divide. While a large majority backed the resolution, Western powers including the United States, the United Kingdom and European Union member states either rejected it outright or declined to support it, not over the history itself, but over how it should be defined, interpreted and acted upon today.
