In his message for the day, the High Representative recalled that for four hundred years, enslaved Africans fought for their freedom, while colonial powers and others committed horrific crimes against them.

Their lives were ruled by terror, while they suffered rape, flogging, lynching and other atrocities and humiliations, he recalled.

The enslaved were deprived of education, medical care, opportunity and prosperity, while those who organized and directed the transatlantic slave trade amassed enormous fortunes.

He lamented the impact of history on the descendants of African slaves who continue to struggle for equal rights and freedoms around the world.

Today and every day we reject the legacy of this horrendous crime against humanity and demand restorative justice frameworks to help overcome generations of exclusion and discrimination, he remarked.

Guterres called for respecting the space and conditions necessary for healing, reparations and justice as well as working for a world free of racism, discrimination, intolerance and hatred.

Since 2006, the UN General Assembly established the Transatlantic Slave Trade Outreach Program, which designated March 25 each year as the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade with ceremonies and activities at UN headquarters around the world.

The UN estimates that more than 13 million Africans were victims of slavery driven by the racist ideology that these women, men and children were inferior because of the color of their skin, while countless families were torn apart and untold numbers of human beings lost their lives.

Despite suffering gross human rights violations and intergenerational trauma for centuries, enslaved people persevered in their resilience, demonstrating courage and rebellion against conditions of slavery, forced labor, and systemic violence and oppression.

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