Nigeria will join the rest of the world to commemorate the annual International Day for the Remembrance of Slave trade And Its Abolition.
The theme of this year’s celebration is “Modern Day Slavery, A National Question: Protecting the Future Generation”
The event which is scheduled to hold at the National Press Centre, Radio House, will be hosted by Federal Ministry of Information and Culture with Parastatals, UNESCO and stakeholders.
Chief host of the day will be the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.
International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition is an international day on August 23 of each year, the day designated by UNESCO to memorialize the transatlantic slave trade.
The date was equally chosen by the adoption of resolution 29 C/40 by the Organisation’s General Conference at 29th session. Circular of July 29, 1998, from the Director-General, invited Ministers of Culture to promote the day.
The date is significant because, during the night of August 22 to August 23, 1791, on the island of Saint Domingue (now known as Haiti), an uprising began which set forth events that were a major factor in the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade.
UNESCO Member States organize events every year on that date, inviting participation from young people, educators, artists and intellectuals. As part of the goals of the intercultural UNESCO project, “The Slave Route”, it is an opportunity for collective recognition and focus on the “historic causes, the methods and the consequences” of slavery.
Similarly, it sets the stage for analysis and dialogue of the interactions which gave rise to the transatlantic trade in human beings between Africa, Europe, the Americas and the Caribbean.