Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Ghana’s Foreign Minister: Slavery scars our collective conscience

“The time has come for the international community to be honest, not to be hypocritical, not be selective, not engage in erasure, but to admit that the gravest crime against humanity took place and it took place on this continent. And that the time to repair what was broken, what undermines our collective humanity, what is a scar on our collective conscience, the time and the only way to repair that is now.”

Aleem Maqbool speaks to Ghana’s Foreign Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, about his country leading a global campaign for reparations for the transatlantic slave trade.

Earlier this year, the United Nations adopted an historic resolution that declared the transatlantic slave trade "the gravest crime against humanity", although every European nation chose to abstain in the vote. Meanwhile, the US was one of three countries to vote against.

Between the 16th and 19th centuries, it’s estimated that around 12 million people were forcibly trafficked from Africa to European colonies in the Americas, although some historians place this figure even higher.

Accra’s campaign has been supported by countries all over the world, and although not so much by European nations, it has been recognised by some European institutions, like the Church of England. The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC, including episodes with former Sudanese leader Aisha Musa, microfinance pioneer Jennifer Riria, and Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organisation. You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.

Presenter: Aleem Maqbool Producers: Catherine Wyatt and Ben Cooper Editor: Justine Lang

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(Image: Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa. Credit: Getty)