International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition 2016, August 23.

International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition , August 23.




The Slave Route 1994-2014 - The Road Travelled

Message from Ms Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, on the occasion of International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition 2016, August 23rd.

In the night of 22 to 23 August 1791, men and women, torn from Africa and sold into slavery, revolted against the slave system to obtain freedom and independence for Haiti, gained in 1804. The uprising was a turning point in human history, greatly impacting the establishment of universal human rights, for which we are all indebted.

The courage of these men and women has created obligations for us. UNESCO is marking International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition to pay tribute to all those who fought for freedom, and, in their name, to continue teaching about their story and the values therein. The success of this rebellion, led by the slaves themselves, is a deep source of inspiration today for the fight against all forms of servitude, racism, prejudice, racial discrimination and social injustice that are a legacy of slavery.

The history of the slave trade and slavery created a storm of rage, cruelty and bitterness that has not yet abated. It is also a story of courage, freedom and pride in newfound freedom. All of humanity is part of this story, in its transgressions and good deeds. It would be a mistake and a crime to cover it up and forget. Through its project The Slave Route, UNESCO intends to find in this collective memory the strength to build a better world and to show the historical and moral connections that unite different peoples.

In this same frame of mind, the United Nations proclaimed the International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024). UNESCO is contributing to it through its educational, cultural and scientific programmes so as to promote the contribution of people of African descent to building modern societies and ensuring dignity and equality for all human beings, without distinction.

Irina Bokova, UNESCO Director-General.

 

The Project's Achievements

• Recognition of the slave trade and slavery as a crime against humanity
• Proclamation of 23 August, International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition
•  Proclamation of 2004, International Year to commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition
•  Proclamation of 2011, International Year for People of African Descent
•  Construction of a Permanent Memorial to Honour the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade at the United Nations
• Proclamation of the International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024)
• Creation of the first international network of managers of sites and itineraries of memory related to the slave trade and slavery, and the establishment of a label "Sites of memory associated with the project The Slave Route"
• Implementation of 250 projects through various partnerships
• Reference publications

  

International Day for the Remembrance of Slave Trade and of its Abolition 2015, August 23

International Day for the Remembrance of Slave Trade and of its Abolition, August 23.

International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition was first celebrated in a number of countries, in particular in Haiti (23 August 1998) and Goree in Senegal (23 August 1999). Cultural events and debates too were organized. The year 2001 saw the participation of the Mulhouse Textile Museum in France in the form of a workshop for fabrics called "Indiennes de Traite" (a type of calico) which served as currency for the exchange of slaves in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Circular CL/3494 of 29 July 1998 from the Director-General to Ministers of Culture invites all the Member States to organize events to mark 23 August each year. 

The UNESCO Executive Board adopted Resolution 29 C/40 at its 29th session.

“Artists and the memory of slavery: resistance, creative freedom and legacies”

Programme and Participants of the seminar “Artists and the memory of slavery: resistance, creative freedom and legacies”; (4, september 2015)

Generations of artists have, ever since the abolitions of slavery, seized, revisited, rehabilitated, and transmitted, when their turn came, these esthetic legacies in diverse areas of creation. They have also taken over the historical, political, social, and identity questions inherited from colonial history as to draw new horizons to individual and intercultural relations.

To address these issues, UNESCO Slave Route Project along with the cultural association "Fait à Cuba" and Vallois gallery organize an event from 4 to 11 September in Paris consisting of a seminar, an exhibition and a performance. These activities will be offering a plural reflection on the relation that contemporary artists hold to the history and memory of slavery.
- How does this tragic history, still ill-known on the scientific field of research and marginalized by the media, feed artistic creation in its most contemporary forms?
- Does artistic creation enable to voice and crystallize new viewpoints on this complex phenomenon as well as to generate unprecedented overcomings?
- How do artists draw inspiration from, refer to, and carry this painful memory but also transcend it so as to achieve universality?

FORUM : 23 August - Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition

International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition, August 23th

23 August: International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave trade and of its Abolition The night of 22 to 23 August 1791, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (today Haiti and the Dominican Republic) saw the beginning of the uprising that would play a crucial role in the abolition of the Transatlantic slave trade.    Websites The Transatlantic Slave trade Database Voyages Places of memory of the slave route in the latin Caribbean Historun Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora (ASWAD) Respect Magazine Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture Museum of the African Diaspora (MOAD) Wilberforce Institute for the study of Slavery and Emancipation (WISE) The African Diaspora Heritage Trail Iziko Museums of Cape Town Anti-slavery international organisation African Passages The Shackles of memory Virtual Visit of the Gorée Island   The African Diaspora in the Indian Ocean World Centre for Research on the Societies of the Indian Ocean (CRESOI) The Harriet Tubman Institute EURESCL Slave Trade, Slavery Abolitions and their Legacies in European Histories and Identities Naval Archaeology Research Group (GRAN) International Slavery Museum Yale Slavery and Abolition Portal Museum of the African Diaspora Tadia Society Amistad America Virtual Exhibition: "Lest we forget" Breaking the silence: The Transatlantic Slave Trade Education Projet (TST)

Message from Ms Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, on the occasion of the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition, 23 August 2013 Through their struggles, their desire for dignity and freedom, slaves contributed to the universality of human rights. We must teach the names of the heroes of this story, because they are the heroes of all humankind. In paying tribute, on 23 August each year, to the women and men who fought this oppression, UNESCO wishes to foster reflection and debate on a tragedy that has left its mark on the world as it is today. Under the Slave Route Project, UNESCO aims to reveal the extent and consequences of this human tragedy and to portray the wealth of the cultural traditions that African peoples have forged in the face of adversity – in art, music, dance and culture in its broader sense. This year, on the eve of the twentieth anniversary of the Slave Route Project, I designated as a UNESCO Artist for Peace Mr Marcus Miller, who will undertake the mission of promoting the UNESCO Slave Route Project and conveying its message of respect through music. These endeavours will contribute to efforts for the Decade for People of African Descent (2013-2022), proclaimed by the United Nations in 2012. The slave trade is not merely a thing of the past: it is our history and it has shaped the face of many modern societies, creating indissoluble ties between peoples and continents, and irreversibly transforming the destiny, economy and culture of nations. Studying this history is tantamount to paying tribute to freedom fighters and to acknowledging their unique contributions to the affirmation of universal human rights. They have set an example for us to continue the struggle for freedom, against racial prejudice inherited from the past and against new forms of slavery that subsist to this day and affect some 21 million people. Today, I invite all governments, civil society organizations and public and private partners to redouble their efforts to transmit this history. May it be a source of respect and a universal call for freedom for future generations. On this Day of Commemoration, UNESCO invites people around the world to remember, to reflect on the consequences of the past on our present, on the new requirements of living together in our multicultural societies and on the fight against contemporary forms of slavery of which millions of human beings are still victims. International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition is intended to inscribe the tragedy of the slave trade in the memory of all peoples. In accordance with the goals of the intercultural project "The Slave Route", it should offer an opportunity for collective consideration of the historic causes, the methods and the consequences of this tragedy, and for an analysis of the interactions to which it has given rise between Africa, Europe, the Americas and the Caribbean. The Director-General of UNESCO invites the Ministers of Culture of all Member States to organize events every year on that date, involving the entire population of their country and in particular young people, educators, artists and intellectuals. International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition was first celebrated in a number of countries, in particular in Haiti (23 August 1998) and Goree in Senegal (23 August 1999). Cultural events and debates too were organized. The year 2001 saw the participation of the Mulhouse Textile Museum in France in the form of a workshop for fabrics called "Indiennes de Traite" (a type of calico) which served as currency for the exchange of slaves in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Circular CL/3494 of 29 July 1998 from the Director-General to Ministers of Culture invites all the Member States to organize events to mark 23 August each year. Decision 8.2 of the 150th session of the UNESCO Executive Board The Executive Board, 1. Bearing in mind 20 C/Resolution 4/1.2/7 in which the General Conference invited the Director-General to provide moral and material assistance towards the organization, each year, of a Black Peoples’ Day, 2. Recalling 27 C/Resolution 3.13 in which the General Conference approved the implementation of the intercultural and interregional project entitled "The Slave Route", 3. Recalling also 28 C/Resolution 5.11 on the slave route and the proposal for the establishment at international level of remembrance of the slave-trade, 4. Further recalling that 23 August 1791 was the day on which the slaves of Saint-Domingue and Haiti rose up in rebellion, thus taking the first step towards the abolition of the slave-trade, 5. Noting with interest the support expressed for the UNESCO Slave Route project by the Organization of African Unity (OAU) at its twenty-eighth summit at Dakar in June 1992, 6. Endorses the general approach and conception proposed by the Director-General in document 150 EX/32 concerning the objectives and the programme for the establishment of the remembrance; Recommends that the General Conference: (a) proclaim 23 August of every year 'International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition'; and (b) submit to the United Nations General Assembly a request that all United Nations Member States take part in this remembrance