23 August International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition
The night of 22 to 23 August 1791, in Santo Domingo (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.
It is against this background that the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition is commemorated on 23 August each year.
This International Day is intended to inscribe the tragedy of the slave trade in the memory of all peoples. 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.
In 2019, the Day also marks the 25th anniversary of “UNESCO’s Slave Route Project: Resistance, Liberty, Heritage”, which for a quarter of a century has been working to help governments, universities, the media and civil society organizations to open these tragic pages of our history, to combat the oblivion or denial of a past that is well documented by so many written and oral archives, and to make this immense heritage known through the tremendous cultural diversity celebrated today.Links: More information on the DayTheme page: Social and Human SciencesSocial TransformationsDemocracy and Global CitizenshipIntercultural DialogueCulture of Peace and Non-violence