We can all stand up and speak in solidarity against racism wherever and whenever we see it, Gutteres wrote on the occasion of the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition.

For more than 400 years, over 15 million men, women and children have been victims of the deplorable transatlantic slave trade, one of the saddest chapters in human history.

In his message, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Director Audrey Azoulay stressed it´s time to abolish human exploitation once and for all, and to recognize the equal and unconditional dignity of each and every individual.

“This August 23, we honor the memory of men and women who, in Saint-Domingue in 1791, rebelled and paved the way for the end of slavery and dehumanization,” she stressed.

We honor their memory and that of all other victims of slavery, she said.

Such a clarity is the essential requirement for the reconciliation of memory and the struggle against all present slavery forms, which continue affecting millions of people worldwide, in particular women and children.

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