The Secretary General is also appealing to the mass media, the church, government ministries, agencies and schools in all Member States to join in a synchronized period of one minute of silence on March 25 at 12 noon, Eastern Caribbean Time, in honour of those who died in the Middle Passage and in resistance to slavery.

This is in keeping with the decision of the Eighteenth Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government, held in St. Vincent and the Grenadines on 12-14 February 2007, to commemorate this historic event with year-long national and regional activities, and in particular the observance of the synchronized period of silence.

Mr. Carrington’s appeal also comes against the background of the passage of a Resolution co-sponsored by CARICOM, at the 61st Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in 2006, designating 25 March 2007, as the International Day for the Commemoration of the 200th Anniversary of the Abolition of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.

The Resolution, which was supported by an overwhelming majority of Member States of the UN, urged all Member States of the United Nations “to develop programmes to educate and inculcate future generations on the lessons, history and consequences of slavery and the slave trade,” and requested the Secretary-General of the United Nations to establish an outreach programme to commemorate the anniversary, including the holding of a Special Session of the UNGA on 25 March 2007.

It acknowledged, among other things, that the slave trade and the legacy of slavery are at the heart of situations of profound social and economic inequity, hatred, bigotry, racism and prejudice, which continue to affect people of African descent and recalled the reference in the Durban Declaration on the importance of “provision of effective remedies, recourse, redress, and compensatory and other measures at the national, regional and international levels,” aimed at countering the continued impact of slavery and the slave trade.

An earlier UN Resolution 31C/28 had also proclaimed 2004 as the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition and designated 23rd August as the UNESCO International Day for the Remembrance of Slavery and its Abolition.

Further to the 2006 UNGA Resolution, the 19th Meeting of the Community Council of Ministers of CARICOM held in Georgetown, Guyana on 19 January, 2007 endorsed the proposal that Member States focus on the development of educational material on the Slave Trade under the theme CARICOM Reflects and agreed that the programmes implemented by Member States would “include activities highlighting the achievements of the sons and daughters of slavery.”

The Council also agreed to recommend to the Assembly of Caribbean Community Parliamentarians (ACCP) that it meet under the theme of the bicentenary of the Abolition of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and also link recognition of the 200th Anniversary of the Haitian Parliament to that Parliamentary Session.

Already, several Member States such as Jamaica and St. Vincent and the Grenadines have developed and started implementation of a comprehensive year-long programme, which includes public lectures, logo competitions, public education, panel discussions, cultural rallies, concerts, exhibitions and ritual ceremonies of commemoration.

The Secretary General acknowledges and commends the efforts of those States that have started to implement national programmes and urges others, which have not yet initiated plans, to follow suit.

CONTACT: piu@caricom.org