
The United Nations General Assembly has voted to designate the Transatlantic Trafficking of Enslaved Africans and the system of racialised chattel enslavement as “the gravest crime against humanity.” Adopted on Wednesday 25 March 2026 with an overwhelming majority of 123 Member States voting in favour, UN Resolution A/80/L.48 marks a historic shift in the international community’s engagement with the enduring legacies of slavery. Three countries—Argentina, Israel, and the United States—voted against it and 52 abstained.