Note to Correspondents

EXHIBIT FOR 200^TH ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATION OF TRANSATLANTIC SLAVE

 

TRADE’S ABOLITION OPENS TODAY AT HEADQUARTERS

 

In observance of the International Day for the Commemoration of the 200^th Anniversary of the Abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade on 25 March, the Department of Public Information (DPI) and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Member States in association with the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture will organize an exhibit in the United Nations Visitors’ Lobby from 1 March through 30 March for viewing by the general public. 

Titled, “Lest We Forget -- The Triumph Over Slavery”, the exhibit illustrates the cultural, political, economic and social practices of enslaved Africans while enduring the dehumanizing conditions of slavery.  It will be officially declared open at a ceremony on Thursday, 1 March, at 6:15 p.m. in the Main Gallery of the Visitors’ Lobby.  A private reception will follow, co-hosted by CARICOM and the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations.

The ceremony inaugurating the DPI exhibit will include a line-up of distinguished speakers including Crispin Gregoire, Permanent Representative of Dominica to the United Nations and Chair of the planning committee for the bicentenary commemoration of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade, Nirupam Sen, Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations, Koïchiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO, Joe Robert Pemagbi, Permanent Representative of Sierra Leone to the United Nations, Howard Dodson, Director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and Philip Sealy, Permanent Representative of Trinidad and Tobago to the United Nations and Chair of the CARICOM Caucus for the period January to March 2007.  The opening ceremony will also feature musical renditions by the Jazz Society of the United Nations.

On 28 November 2006, the General Assembly adopted resolution 61/19 which called for the observance of the International Day for the Commemoration of the 200^th Anniversary of the Abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade on 25 March. 

For more information on United Nations exhibitions, please contact Jan Arnesen at tel.:  (212) 963 8531 or Liza Wichmann at tel.:  (212) 963 0089.

For information on DPI activities commemorating the 200^th Anniversary of the Abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, e-mail:  Johnston-Britton@un.org or call (212) 963 6984 or visit:  www.un.org/geninfo/faq.

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For information media • not an official record