Echoing the AU’s February 2026 resolution that designates slavery and colonialism as genocide and crimes against Africans, along with a formal declaration establishing November 30 as the “African Day of Tribute for Martyrs and Victims of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, Colonization, and Apartheid,” the memorial serves as a collective testament to resilience, dignity, and the enduring struggle for freedom across the continent.

Whereas the AU currently lacks a memorial that commemorates victims of colonization and the transatlantic slave trade, and ignoring this dark period of racial terrorism in our past delegitimizes the emotional wounds of the victims’ descendants, this inaugural continental memorial will offer a more restorative experience for everyone involved — the victims, the survivors, their descendants, and those who bear the burden of atoning for the sins of that bygone era.

This will strengthen the historic and familial ties between the African Union and the African Diaspora and serve as a symbol of collective healing for African nations and their global descendants. Besides calling on the international community to acknowledgement and repentance, the memorial aims to foster a new era of truth, shape ongoing debates on reparative justice, and ensure that the experiences of African communities during colonization are neither forgotten nor overlooked.