By Boakye Stephen, Kumasi, Ghana | Reporting for Ghanaian News Canada September 30, 2026
President John Dramani Mahama has renewed Ghana’s call for the international community to fully confront the history and consequences of the transatlantic slave trade, arguing that recognition of the suffering endured by Africans and their descendants must be followed by concrete measures for justice and restitution.
Mahama made the case during Ghana’s engagement at the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York, where reparatory justice has remained a major component of the country’s diplomatic agenda.
His intervention comes months after the United Nations General Assembly adopted a landmark resolution recognising the trafficking of enslaved Africans and racialised chattel enslavement of Africans as the “gravest crime against humanity.”
The resolution, adopted on March 25, was championed by Ghana and the African Union. It received 123 votes in favour, while three countries voted against and 52 abstained.
For Mahama, however, the international recognition represents only one stage of a much broader process.
Mahama: Recognition must lead to action
In his address, Mahama argued that acknowledging the historical crimes committed against Africans cannot be treated as the final destination.
The president has repeatedly maintained that the international community must move from recognition to practical measures capable of addressing the continuing consequences of slavery and colonial exploitation.
At a side event on reparatory justice during the UN General Assembly, Mahama outlined three pillars for what he described as the next phase of the global reparatory-justice agenda.
One of the central priorities is establishing a permanent international system for the restitution of African cultural property.
Mahama argued that the return of African artefacts should not depend solely on individual governments voluntarily deciding to return particular objects.
Instead, he called for clear international legal and diplomatic mechanisms governing the identification, return and restitution of African cultural heritage.
Ghana pushes for the return of African artefacts
The issue of African artefacts held in museums and private collections outside the continent has become an increasingly important part of Ghana’s reparations campaign.
African cultural objects were taken to Europe and other parts of the world during centuries of colonial expansion, military campaigns and unequal exchanges.
Mahama has argued that returning such objects should form an important part of repairing the historical relationship between Africa and institutions that continue to hold African heritage outside the continent.
He has specifically called for international cooperation to improve provenance research, open access to historical archives and remove legal obstacles that can prevent restitution.
Ghanaian officials have also pointed to recent developments involving European countries as evidence that discussions about restitution are becoming more prominent.
According to Ghanaian Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, France, Germany and the Netherlands have expressed willingness to return African artefacts, while Britain and Portugal have also indicated support for the broader reparatory-justice process.
Human remains are also part of the campaign
Mahama has gone beyond the question of cultural artefacts to address African human remains held in museums and institutions outside the continent.
He has argued that human remains should not be treated as museum collections or scientific specimens.
During his September engagement at the United Nations, the president called for the unconditional return of African human remains and said they should be given dignified resting places.
The issue has particular significance because some African remains were taken during colonial expeditions and scientific research and subsequently placed in museums and other institutions outside Africa.
Mahama said Africa’s demand is not simply about recovering objects but about restoring dignity and reconnecting African communities with elements of their history that were removed from the continent.
From restitution to wider reparations
The debate over reparatory justice extends beyond the return of artefacts.
A 19-point framework adopted during a high-level conference on reparatory justice in Accra in June called for a broader approach that can include formal apologies, restitution, debt relief and financial compensation.
The framework was developed within the wider African and Caribbean campaign for reparatory justice and seeks to establish a structured international response to the legacy of slavery and colonialism.
The campaign argues that the consequences of centuries of forced labour, racial discrimination, economic exploitation and dispossession did not disappear with the formal abolition of slavery.
Supporters say those historical processes contributed to economic and social inequalities that continue to affect African countries and people of African descent around the world.
The UN resolution marked a significant development
Ghana’s current campaign builds on a diplomatic effort that has been developing for several years.
In 2023, former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo used his address to the UN General Assembly to call for reparations for the transatlantic slave trade.
The issue subsequently became a central component of Ghana’s foreign-policy engagement under Mahama.
In March 2026, Ghana took the issue to the UN General Assembly, where member states considered the resolution on the historical treatment of enslaved Africans.
The resulting resolution recognised the trafficking of enslaved Africans and racialised chattel enslavement as the gravest crime against humanity.
The vote did not, however, create a binding compensation mechanism requiring particular countries to make financial payments.
Instead, it established an important international recognition of the historical crime and strengthened the diplomatic basis for further discussions about restitution and reparatory justice.
Western countries show increasing interest
Ghana says international attitudes toward reparations are changing.
Speaking at a UN General Assembly side event in September, Foreign Minister Ablakwa said several Western countries that had abstained from the March UN vote had subsequently expressed willingness to engage with the Ghana-led process.
He identified the restitution of cultural artefacts as an initial area where practical progress could be achieved before discussions potentially expand to other forms of reparatory justice.
Reuters reported that Ghana sees the return of looted cultural heritage as an important first step in a wider process that could eventually encompass formal apologies, debt relief and financial compensation.
The developments suggest that the international conversation is gradually moving beyond whether the history of slavery should be acknowledged toward questions about what governments and institutions should do with that acknowledgement.
Mahama links history to Africa’s future
For Mahama, the reparations campaign is not solely about revisiting the past.
The president has connected the issue to Africa’s present economic position and the continent’s demand for a fairer international system.
His argument is that historical exploitation should be considered when discussing contemporary global inequalities and the structure of international economic institutions.
At the UN, Mahama also called for reforms to global systems that he says continue to disadvantage African countries.
His position is that reparatory justice should therefore involve more than compensation or symbolic gestures. It should also address structural issues affecting Africa’s development and its relationship with the global economy.
Africa and the African diaspora
The campaign also has significance beyond the African continent.
Millions of people of African descent across the Caribbean, North America, South America and Europe trace their ancestry to Africans who were forcibly transported across the Atlantic.
Historical records estimate that approximately 12.5 million Africans were forcibly transported across the Atlantic between the 16th and 19th centuries.
The trade supplied forced labour to plantations, mines and other economic enterprises across the Americas and generated enormous wealth while inflicting lasting demographic, social and economic damage on African societies.
Ghana has increasingly positioned itself as a diplomatic bridge between Africa and the global African diaspora in discussions surrounding reparations.
The country’s historical connection to the transatlantic slave trade, including its coastal forts and castles that were used in the slave trade, has also made Ghana an important location for conversations about remembrance, historical education and reconciliation.
Ghana’s message to the international community
Mahama’s latest intervention presents a clear progression in Ghana’s position.
The first demand is recognition of the historical crime.
The second is restitution, including the return of cultural artefacts, archives and human remains.
The broader objective is reparatory justice, which supporters say should address the enduring consequences of slavery and colonialism through measures that can include apologies, institutional reforms, debt relief and other forms of redress.
The Ghanaian government has also stressed that Africa must take responsibility for strengthening its own institutions while pursuing justice internationally.
Mahama has acknowledged that African governments must address corruption, improve governance and ensure that resources are used effectively as the continent demands greater fairness from the international system.
A debate that is moving into a new phase
The global debate over slavery reparations is entering a new stage.
For decades, discussions about the transatlantic slave trade often centred primarily on historical remembrance and education.
Ghana’s current diplomatic campaign is seeking to broaden that discussion into questions of restitution, responsibility and structural reform.
The March UN resolution has given the campaign a significant international reference point, while the subsequent discussions at the UN General Assembly have focused on what practical measures could follow.
For Mahama and other advocates, the central argument is that historical recognition should have consequences in the present.
Whether that ultimately produces widespread restitution, formal apologies, economic measures or other forms of reparatory justice will depend on future negotiations among governments, international institutions and affected communities.
For now, Ghana is continuing to press the issue at the highest levels of international diplomacy, with Mahama insisting that the history of Africa’s enslavement should not remain simply a subject for remembrance but should form part of a broader global conversation about justice, dignity and responsibility.
