Koïchiro Matsuura, Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) marked the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition by reflecting on slavery’s “tragic past” while noting that its modern forms still cause worldwide suffering.
Matsuura said it “serves to pay tribute to all those who worked collectively and individually to trigger the irreversible process of the abolition of the slave trade and slavery throughout the world.”