3/25/2009

UN remembers victims of slavery with drum beats

UNITED NATIONS, March 25 -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Wednesday launched the official commemoration of the victims of the African slave trade by beating drums, calling on the international community to fight contemporary forms of slavery.

At a ceremony held at the UN headquarters in New York, Ban joined artists and musicians from Brazil, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, the Caribbean countries and the United States, as well as students, diplomats and UN officials to mark the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade.




UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Wednesday launched the official commemoration of the victims of the African slave trade by beating drums, calling on the international community to fight contemporary forms of slavery.

Addressing the observance entitled "Break the Silence, Beat the Drum," Ban said the swearing-in this year of Barack Obama to the presidency of the United States marks a milestone in the 400-year struggle of the descendants of African slaves for justice, assimilation and respect.

"Estimates vary of how many millions of men and women were transported. What is not in dispute is the legacy of this vile traffic," Ban said.

He said although slavery was abolished, Africa has yet to recover from the ravages of the slave trade or the subsequent era of colonization, and people of African descent "still struggle daily against entrenched prejudice that keeps them disproportionately in poverty."



UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Wednesday launched the official commemoration of the victims of the African slave trade by beating drums, calling on the international community to fight contemporary forms of slavery.

Besides, racism and contemporary forms of slavery continue to pollute the world. "It is essential that we speak out loud and clear against such abuses," Ban said.

The UN General Assembly decided in December to mark the victims of slavery each March 25, on which honors the millions of Africans violently removed from their homelands and cast into slavery.

It is estimated that up to 28 million men, women and children were taken from Africa from the 16th to 19th centuries and shipped across the Atlantic, mainly to colonies in North America, South America and the West Indies.

The United Nations estimated there are currently more than 250,000 child soldiers serving in dozens of conflicts across the world, and a total of 5.7 million children are involved in forced labor.



UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Wednesday launched the official commemoration of the victims of the African slave trade by beating drums, calling on the international community to fight contemporary forms of slavery.
(Xinhua)

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