President John Dramani Mahama will in March this year, present a landmark resolution before the United Nations General Assembly seeking global recognition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade as the gravest crime against humanity.

A statement issued by the Presidency said President Mahama made the announcement on Sunday-February 15, when he delivered his report to the 39th Assembly of Heads of State and Government in his capacity as the African Union (AU) Champion for Advancing the Cause of Justice and the Payment of Reparations.

The AU Assembly has since adopted President Mahama’s draft UN resolution.

According to the President, “all peoples of African descent have been waiting for this day. The truth cannot be buried. The legal foundations are sound; the moral imperative is undeniable.”

The Resolution, first introduced at the 80th Session of the UN General Assembly in September 2025, crowns a year-long effort to elevate Africa’s reparatory justice agenda at the global level.

President Mahama reported significant progress in establishing continental structures to pursue reparations for the legacies of transatlantic enslavement, colonialism and apartheid.

These include the AU Coordination Team on Reparations, the AU Committee of Experts on Reparations, and a Reference Group of Legal Experts.

He described the AU’s declaration of 2025 as the Year of Justice for Africans through Reparations as a historic turning point for the continent, noting that it signified not only commemoration but a strategic international commitment to justice.

The President urged AU member states to establish national reparations commissions, engage formally with historical perpetrator states, and support the proposed Decade of Reparations to ensure sustained momentum beyond the commemorative year.

“Reparatory justice will not be handed to us. Like political independence, it must be asserted, pursued and secured through determination and unity,” he said.

Throughout 2025, the AU engaged with UNESCO and the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent to ensure Africa’s reparations agenda influenced global discourse on cultural restitution, historical truth-telling and emerging issues, including artificial intelligence.

Major international gatherings — from Accra to Madrid, and culminating in the 9th Pan-African Congress in Lomé — have, according to the President, helped “fundamentally reframe the global narrative,” positioning reparations as forward-looking instruments for justice and development rather than backward-looking claims.

President Mahama called on the current generation of African leaders to demonstrate courage and resolve so they would be remembered “not for hesitation, but for advancing justice, restoring dignity, securing restitution and shaping a future grounded in truth.”

His presentation of the resolution to the UN General Assembly in March is expected to mark a defining moment in Africa’s ongoing push for global recognition and redress of historical injustices.