Press Launch – Vice-Chancellor of The College of the West Indies (The UWI), Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, is scheduled to headline a programme hosted by the United Nations Normal Meeting (UNGA) on March 25, 2024, to commemorate the Worldwide Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Commerce. The occasion, which takes place at 10:00 am (AST/Japanese Caribbean), will probably be held on the Normal Meeting Corridor in New York and will probably be live-streamed on UWI’s public data platform, UWItv World.
The Worldwide Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Commerce is noticed yearly on March 25, since 2007. The day is devoted to honouring and remembering the victims of the Transatlantic Slave Commerce, which enslaved over 13 million Africans for greater than 400 years. The day additionally goals to lift consciousness in regards to the risks of racism and prejudice.
Vice-Chancellor Beckles is a famend world public activist in social justice and minority empowerment. He’s additionally the Chairman of the Caribbean Neighborhood [CARICOM] Fee on Reparation and Social Justice and a United Nations committee official. His life’s work has been devoted to the reparatory justice dialog. In 2013, he coordinated the coverage positions of Caribbean governments on reparatory justice, established The UWI’s Centre for Reparation Analysis, served as an affiliate member of the College Faculty London’s Legacies of British Slave-ownership analysis challenge, and the College of Hull’s Wilberforce Institute for the examine of Slavery and Emancipation. He additionally represented Barbados and led the Caribbean NGO delegation on the 2001 World Convention Towards Racism in Durban, South Africa. He’s the creator of Britain’s Black Debt, the primary scholarly work that appears comprehensively on the reparations dialogue within the Caribbean.
Within the UNGA occasion, Vice-Chancellor Beckles’ keynote handle underneath the 2024 remembrance theme, “Creating World Freedom: Countering Racism with Justice in Societies and Amongst Nations“, will set out the narrative that captures the rise of reparations from a community of spontaneous native moments to a extremely organised world motion.
The programme will even characteristic a message by the UN Secretary-Normal, António Guterres, an handle from President of the Normal Meeting and UWI alum, His Excellency Dennis Francis, in addition to remarks by the designated youth speaker, Yolanda Renee King, creator and granddaughter of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
“It’s at all times an honour to handle the UN Normal Meeting. I want to thank Secretary-Normal Gutteres for this recognition. However to talk with the President of the Meeting, Ambassador Francis, a UWI alumnus, within the chair is particular and priceless,” stated Vice-Chancellor Beckles.
The UNGA commemoration occasion for the Worldwide Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Commerce will probably be carried stay on UN WebTV and by way of www.uwitv.global, the UWItv Facebook page, and on UWItv’s Flow and HubTV cable channels.
