President John Dramani Mahama has called for deeper international action on reparatory justice, arguing that acknowledging the historical crimes of the transatlantic slave trade must be followed by changes to global systems that continue to disadvantage Africa and people of African descent.

Speaking at the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, September 24, President Mahama recalled Ghana’s role in advancing international recognition of the transatlantic trafficking and racialised chattel enslavement of Africans.

He said the adoption of the Ghana-led resolution at the UN in March 2026 represented an important step towards acknowledging the historical injustice and its continuing consequences.

“True healing requires truth; truth requires acknowledgement; and acknowledgement must lead to meaningful repair,” President Mahama said.

He argued that the effects of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade went beyond the loss of lives and communities, pointing to what he described as enduring economic and structural consequences for Africa.

The President said meaningful repair should include reforms to international trade, financing and resource extraction systems, as well as efforts to ensure that African countries retain more value from their natural resources.

“But real repair demands structural transformation,” he said. “It requires dismantling the persistent engines of exploitation: unfair global trade regimes, predatory resource extraction, discriminatory credit ratings, unsustainable debt burdens, and the continued export of raw materials from Africa while real value addition and job creation occur elsewhere.”

President Mahama said Ghana welcomed moves by countries including the Netherlands, Germany and France to engage in discussions on reparatory justice and restitution.

He stressed, however, that Africa’s objective was not simply financial compensation but a transformation of the structures that continue to shape economic relations between Africa and the developed world.