To Heal We Must ‘Understand the Past’, Says Deputy Secretary-General at Pledging Event for Memorial Honouring Victims of Slavery, Transatlantic Slave Trade

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson’s remarks, representing the Secretary-General, at a pledging luncheon for the Permanent Memorial to Honour the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, in New York today:

President [Sam] Kutesa, my dear friend, Monsieur le Président du conseil régional de la Martinique, Other guests here, Excellencies, Ministers from several parts of the world here at this very important occasion, Ladies and gentlemen,

I’m very happy to be a part of this event, and join you on behalf of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who is today in Lima, Peru, where, in fact, the President left and arrived this morning from the important climate change meeting.

Today, 10 December, as you know, marks 66 years since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was proclaimed at the United Nations.  Today is Human Rights Day.  What an appropriate day to have this occasion.

It’s a day when we reflect on the fundamental and equal rights of every human being.  It’s also a day when we reflect on the work that remains to be done, so that everyone in our world can fully exercise their rights and freedoms.  Let us always remember the first three words of the UN Charter — and I always carry it in my pocket, and I can prove it — the first three words are “We the Peoples”.  We the Peoples.  We are here to serve the peoples of the world, to bring about peace, development and human rights.

Today is a particularly significant Human Rights Day, because it marks this historic launch of the International Decade of People of African Descent.  This Decade is to mobilize our efforts to promote and protect human rights of people of African Descent and the African Diaspora across the world.  We must all deal with the discrimination and inequality that so many of them face.  And also, as the President pointed out, the liberation of minds which is involved in this.  It goes on so many levels.  I’m glad you pointed to that, Mr. President.

The Decade is also intended to raise awareness of the historic injustices that planted the seeds of inequality and discrimination.  One of the most abominable was the transatlantic slave trade.  This trade in human beings constituted a systematic abuse of the fundamental rights of millions of men, women and children.

And its legacy lives on in the marginalization and neglect experienced by people of African descent around the world.  Millions of men, women and children continue to face alarming levels of violence, insecurity and incarceration.  People of African descent are often among the poorest and most marginalized communities, facing lack of access to employment, education, housing and health care.

We can’t address these affronts unless we understand the historic injustices that lie behind them.  Establishing a Permanent Memorial to Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade is an integral part of this task and this process.

This memorial will commemorate the men, women and children who were victimized by this stain on history.  It will honour the slaves, the abolitionists, the unsung heroes who fought to end this oppression.  It will promote recognition of the contributions that slaves and their descendants have made to their societies.  And it will remind us that people of African descent, and victims of slavery across the world, continue to struggle under this legacy.  And there is still a lot of work to be done.

So, I commend the Permanent Memorial Committee, under the chairmanship of Ambassador Rattray of Jamaica, for its work to realize this vision of the General Assembly resolution, which was adopted [in] 2008, which stressed the importance of educating future generations on the history of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade.  It welcomed the proposal of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) — I’m so glad to see many of the Community’s representatives here today — supported by African Union countries and many others, to erect a permanent memorial at UN Headquarters.

And the design selected by an international panel of judges, the Ark of Return by our dear friend the architect Rodney Leon, powerfully encapsulates a sense of moving forward through reflection — and action, I would add.  It reminds us that in order to heal and make progress, we must acknowledge and understand the past.  We must draw the consequences, then, and the conclusions from this understanding.

So, I commend the many Member States, foundations and individuals who have supported this initiative, not least those who are pledging their donations at or after this event.  I hope that after today, we will have closed the remaining gap in funding.  And through your generosity, and the efforts of all those involved in this initiative, we look forward to seeing this memorial take its rightful place at UN Headquarters.

And on a very personal note, in closing, let me tell you that in my Office — and you are welcome to come to my Office to prove it — there is a photograph of Martin Luther King, Jr., which was given to me by a person who was there in Selma, Alabama, at the march in 1965.  And I see this picture of the people in the first line, and there is Martin Luther King, Jr., and then I look behind him and there are two flags.  There are two flags.  One of them is the flag of the United States.  And the other one is the flag of the United Nations.  And I think this is so symbolic of what this is all about.  It is about fighting for justice and fighting for equality — and this is something which is a national duty for all of us.  But, it’s also something which is based on the universal values for which we all stand, and of which this Universal Declaration is such a wonderful expression.  So, thank you for having this event on this day, when we should think about human rights for all around the world.  Let us now show our affection for and attachment to this cause by making sure that our friends in the Committee, Ambassador Rattray and his colleagues, will not have sleepless nights.  Thank you very much.