Press Releases

March 26, 2007

Declaration by the Presidency on Behalf of the EU on the Commemoration of the 200th Anniversary of the Abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade

Massive human suffering was brought to the African continent by the trans-atlantic slave trade. Over a period of more than 300 years, millions of men, women and children were shipped to the Americas. Millions more died in the slave hunts in Africa and during what has been called the “Middle Passage” to destinations in the New World of the Americas. The European Union acknowledges and profoundly regrets their tragic plight .

The barbarism of the transatlantic slave trade stands out in the history of humanity in terms of its magnitude, organized nature and especially its negation of the human dignity of the victims. While Europe was pioneering the Age of Reason and Enlightenment, European merchants took off to enslave the African continent. It therefore was most appropriate and timely that the international community acknowledged at the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance in Durban in 2001 that slavery and the slave trade are a crime against humanity and should always have been so.

Besides reminding us of a dark chapter in our history, the 200th anniversary of the Abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, during which an estimated 15 million people were forcibly removed from Africa, also highlights the fact that slavery and the slave trade had been practiced all over the world and for thousands of years, albeit not on such a large scale as during those dark centuries of the transatlantic slave trade.

But this anniversary should also serve as a timely reminder that slavery is still a common practice in many parts of the world and that modern forms like bonded labor and human trafficking are spreading more and more. The various forms of modern slavery add up to a booming international trade, making billions of dollars at the expense of millions of victims. Therefore there can be no room for complacency. As long ago as 1904, the international community identified trafficking in persons and modern day slavery as a crime which can only be combated by international cooperation. Nearly 60 years ago, the United Nations took up the problem and in 1949 elaborated the “Convention for the Suppression of Traffic in Persons and the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others.” A modern-day milestone in the fight against trafficking in persons is the so called Palermo Protocol, which was agreed in 2000. The core of this protocol is a new, all-encompassing definition of this crime and human rights violations associated with it.

The European Union, determined to do its utmost to fight all modern forms of slavery and the slave trade, took the Palermo Definition as the basis for a “Framework Decision” of 19 July 2002 on combating trafficking in human beings and for its “Plan on best practices, standards and procedures for combating and preventing trafficking in human beings.” The latter was published in December 2005 and provides the framework for EU policies against trafficking in persons.

It is the EU’s firm hope that we can prevent recurrence of the massive human suffering that is being commemorated today.

The Candidate Countries Turkey, Croatia* and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia*, the Countries of the Stabilization and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, and the EFTA countries Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, as well as Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova align themselves with this declaration.

* Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia continue to be part of the Stabilization and Association Process.

Advanced Search    Help

Contacts

Officials & Institutions

Background Papers

Subscribe Here You can also read the current issues here.

Printer-Friendly Page