UNITED NATIONS, March 18 – The United Nations will begin Monday a week dedicated to the International Day of Remembrance of Slavery Victims and the Transatlantic Traffic of Slaves marked every March 25 since 2007.
The programme will start with the arrival at UN headquarters of copies of the Proclamation of the Emancipation of the United States signed by Abraham Lincoln and the 13th Constitutional amendment on the abolition of slavery. After that, a panel session titled Free Forever will be held to celebrate the emancipation and on Tuesday there will be a video conference with students of Denmark, France, Senegal, Trinidad and Tobago, United Kingdom and the United States.
A book presentation will be held on the end of slavery in the United States, a cultural and culinary night and a concert to end next Monday with an official ceremony. The solemn session will have speeches by the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, the president of the General Assembly Vuk Jeremi and representatives of the regional groups at the UN.
This year marks round anniversaries of slavery abolition in Haiti (220), Canada, British West Indies and the Cape of Good Hope (180), France (165), Argentina (160), Dutch colonies (150) and Brazil (125). The UN plans on building a memorial in its headquarter grounds to pay tribute to the victims of slavery at a cost of US$4.5 million.
BERNAMA
