Yesterday, a Declaration of the trafficking of enslaved Africans and Racialized Chattel Enslavement of Africans as the Gravest Crime against Humanity was voted at UNO. As usual, Israel and the USA voted against. How did your country vote? Any thoughts about it?
There's normally a reason when that assortment of countries chooses to abstain (the no voters are normally just evil). In this case it's likely the use of the word "gravest". I'd say the holocaust was worse, at least in the slave trade the people were just a means to an end. The holocaust involved torture by design and aimed to erase an entire religion.
Others may disagree, but there's at least room for doubt on the declaration that it's the "gravest".
EU's stated reason for abstaining is
1, use of superlatives
2, bias in presentation, against UN charter
3, they're against reparations
https://www.eeas.europa.eu/delegations/un-new-york/eu-explanation-vote-%E2%80%93-un-general-assembly-action-a80l48-declaration-trafficking-enslaved-africans_en
I dunno man, it really just smells like they don't want to pay up for their crimes against humanity. When your first two points are nit picking and your last one is "and we were told we wouldn't have to answer for shitty things before we made rules about it", it's kinda giving away why you're against it.
Ireland abstained too, and they didn't really have a recent slave trade.
Why does it counts only from 17th century onwards? Why only for 1 specific situation?
because the wealth generated by those crimes is still extremely influential today.
and that "1 specific situation" was the industrialised destruction of culture, people, families and minds for centuries.
So, it's about influence on the current day? Silly me, to think the holocaust has more impact on the current world order than the slavery that finished in the 19th century.
So it's about duration? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Saharan_slave_trade This lasted long, wouldn't this had more impact in the destruction of culture, people and minds?
It's nothing to do with the wording, really. This is about countries refusing to acknowledge the historic dimension of their racial supremacy doctrine, and denying reparations. It really doesn't matter if it's the gravest or not, which is, just by the span of four centuries of practice.