Places of History and Memory: UNESCO launched a new global network linked to enslavement and the slave trade

Inscribed in a world register, these sites are fully recognized as parts of the same whole and as stages on the slavery route or the long road of remembrance. This Network will encourage twinning between sites, towns and museums, so that they can work together to design festivals, school exchanges or remembrance events and share best practice.

These places stand as important symbols of our collective memory, reminding us not only of the tragedy but of the resilience and survival of those who endured.

Learning from the Past to Build the Future

The celebration brought together policymakers and experts from around the world to discuss the progress made by the Routes Programme over the past three decades, and to envision its future direction. Led by Congresswoman Barbara Lee (USA), representatives from Benin, Cuba, Ghana and Panama, as well as Ambassador June Soomer (Chair of the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent), constituted the high-level panel that underlined the importance of inclusive public policies and tangible actions to address the impacts that enslavement has had in contemporary societies, and to promote racial equity and justice.

An expert round table highlighted regional and national specificities and good practices in addressing the history and legacies of enslavement, especially inequalities faced by people of African descent. A session on the UNESCO Collective Healing Initiative brought together partners who conduct efforts aimed at fostering a sense of communal well-being and amplifying the voices of those who continue to be affected by the legacies of slavery.

The First Dialogue for Reparatory Justice welcomed both descendants of enslaved peoples and enslavers, policymakers, scholars and media partners to reflect on a framework for common understanding and framework. At the end of the Dialogues Series over two years, UNESCO aspires to establish a holistic conceptual framework of reparatory justice and a toolkit to accompany it, plus a plan of action and a resource mobilization strategy.

Reparations is not symbolic. It must involve structural changes, whether through policy reforms, or financial investments in marginalized communities. We must ensure that reparations translates into real tangible transformation. This is about reversing the systems of inequalities and inequities that persist to this day in education, health care, housing and economic opportunity. Reparations are not just a moral imperative, they are an economic mandate, one that we must confront directly.

The question of reparatory justice is sensitive but our Dialogue Series does not seek to point fingers... On the contrary, our aim is to find convergence and solutions and congratulate those who have blazed the trail... to address reparations legislation.