Member States Contribute to United Nations Permanent Slavery Memorial

 

On the margins of the United Nations General Assembly, six Members States confirmed their contributions to the Permanent Memorial to Honour the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade.  At a high-level ceremony, held today at United Nations Headquarters, representatives of the Netherlands, New Zealand, Qatar, Senegal and Spainhanded over symbolic cheques to the Chair of the Permanent Memorial Committee, Courtenay Rattray, Permanent Representative of Jamaica to the United Nations.  Earlier this week, the Boris and Inara Teterev Foundation from Latvia also made a contribution.

The event was attended by Ministers from Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Grenada, Jamaica, Senegal, and Spain, as well as the Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

The United Nations Permanent Memorial to Honour the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade is scheduled to be unveiled on the grounds of United Nations Headquarters by the end of the first quarter of 2015.

The Ark of Return is the design of Rodney Leon, also the architect and designer of the African Burial Ground National Monument in Manhattan.  It was selected as the winner of an international United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)-led competition in August 2013. “The memorial will be an important addition to the UN Headquarters complex when it is built, and it will send a powerful message on the need to remain vigilant about the dangers of racism and racial discrimination today,” said Maher Nasser, Acting Head of the United Nations Department of Public Information that manages the Remember Slavery commemorative programme.

Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, said “UNESCO is deeply honoured to have been associated with the Permanent Memorial Committee to coordinate the first phase of the International Design Competition.”  She noted that last year she was there to unveil the winning design, Arch of Return, by Rodney Leon, an American artist of Haitian heritage.  She added that the memorial was “a powerful symbol, as we celebrate 210 years of independence of Haiti” in 2014.  “Here we are again, to foster the same message of hope, of tolerance, of human dignity, which is never as strong as when it is enriched and enlightened by the knowledge of history," she added.

A Committee of interested States — chaired by Jamaica — oversees the Permanent Memorial project, with Member States from CARICOM and the African Union playing a primary role.

"This is a momentous time in the history of the United Nations, that of crystallizing the resolution of Member States to erect the monument in remembrance of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade.  The overwhelming support of Member States is evident today in the generous contributions that continue to flow into the trust fund for the construction of the Ark of Return.  This is a symbol set in marble that will stand high on the grounds of the United Nations for generations to come:  "Lest we forget", saidTéte António, Permanent Observer of the African Union to the United Nations.

The project is funded through generous voluntary contributions from Member States, complemented by funding from foundations and private individuals.  A trust fund account is administered by the Fund of the United Nations Office for Partnerships.

As of 15 September 2014, pledges and contributions to the fund stood at about $1.5 million, leaving a minimal funding gap of approximately $500,000 to complete the project as planned.  It is the aim of the Permanent Memorial Committee that the shortfall should be raised by the end of 2014 given the current trend.  Over 70 Member States have supported the project to date and the Permanent Memorial Committee appeals to others to join the group of contributors in order to bring the project to completion.

The Permanent Memorial at the United Nations to Honour the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade is an initiative which originated in 2007 and which has gained the unanimous support of the United Nations General Assembly.  Seven successive General Assembly resolutions — the last of which, A/RES/68/7, was adopted on 21 October 2013 — have endorsed the project and committed the United Nations to having the memorial placed at a prominent location at Headquarters to acknowledge the tragedy and consider the legacy of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade.

“Once completed [the memorial] will serve as a reminder, for generations to come, of mankind’s past failures in ensuring that the basic human rights and freedoms for all are safeguarded and protected, and why we should never allow this scourge to have residence in our society,” concluded Arnold J. Nicholson, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Jamaica.

For further information, please contact:  Nathalie Leroy, +1 917 367 0891, leroy@un.org.

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For information media • not an official record