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submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by selokichtli@lemmy.ml to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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?

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[-] leoj@piefed.social 82 points 1 month ago

wtf ireland, sweden, ukraine, united kingdom, canada, japan, iceland, hungary?

Abstaining feels like it is just as bad as voting no.

Europe in general just abstaining. Mostly.

[-] ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 10 points 1 month ago

Everyone should have voted no. The African enslavement was really fucked up, but "the worst human attrocity in history, ever"? The world has done some really, really, fucked up things. I don't really even know why this particular slavery would be picked out from the other slaves over thousands of years except that is was pretty recent and large scale. Why is the world even voting on this shit while on the verge of world war three, while it seems that half the rich elites running the governments are pedophiles?

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[-] Zamboni_Driver@lemmy.ca 50 points 1 month ago

You only posted half of the title.

Declaration of the Trafficking of Enslaved Africans and Racialized Chattel Enslavement of Africans as the Gravest Crime against Humanity

[-] dfyx@lemmy.helios42.de 68 points 1 month ago

The "Gravest Crime against Humanity" part honestly explains why so many countries abstained.

The slave trade was an absolute atrocity and certainly one of the gravest crimes against humanity but should we label it as the gravest crime? Do we really need to introduce a ranking between slavery, the holocaust and dozens of other genocides instead of agreeing that they are/were all bad without picking one as the worst?

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[-] ceiphas@feddit.org 9 points 1 month ago

The abstaining countries mostly has a Problem with "the gravest crime against humanity", because there should be no ranking in crimes against humanity.

Where do you place the Holocaust, the holodomor, the crusades? The conquest of the americas?

[-] doleo@lemmy.one 10 points 1 month ago

Yeah, sure, it was a semantic problem. Not a reperations problem. /s

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[-] BoxedFenders@hexbear.net 49 points 1 month ago

Here's the map of the vote to really drive the point home.

[-] orc_princess@lemmy.ml 42 points 1 month ago
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[-] Thatoneguy@sh.itjust.works 39 points 1 month ago

Why am I even surprised by the US being the US anymore.

"Hey you know this thing thats super bad?"

"Of course we've known it's bad for many years now"

"Well we should officially condemn it."

"Whoa whoa let's hold up and think about that for a second."

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[-] PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmy.ml 24 points 1 month ago

It's the Same Map As Always, USA + vassals Vs Rest of the World.

[-] selokichtli@lemmy.ml 10 points 1 month ago

Is it? It's not really subtle.

[-] PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmy.ml 19 points 1 month ago

The yearly vote about blockade on Cuba is kind of an exception, even EU and the Oceanian Plankton usually vote "for".

My favourite is the voting about combating the glorification of nazism, really says all

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[-] AnotherUsername@lemmy.ml 24 points 1 month ago

Cries quietly in Indigenous slaughter

[-] bryophile@lemmy.zip 15 points 1 month ago

I hope your time will come too, it's crazy how overshadowed this topic is

[-] WasteTime@hexbear.net 22 points 1 month ago
[-] orc_princess@lemmy.ml 23 points 1 month ago

I'm from there, all I can say is... President Xi, my country yearns for freedom

[-] ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml 28 points 1 month ago

I'm from Buenos Aires and I say kill us all

[-] orc_princess@lemmy.ml 10 points 1 month ago

As someone who isn't from Buenos Aires that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make /hj

[-] WasteTime@hexbear.net 14 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

We've always been a colony of spain-cool ukkk amerikkka eu-cool and isntrael

Now the government doesn't care to hide it at all, quite the contrary the president is very explicit about his love affair with yankizionists.

And let's not pretend that the opposition is any different. Except for some small trotskyist parties with no real political weight.

[-] orc_princess@lemmy.ml 12 points 1 month ago

Liberal idealism plagues us, we need more political education yesterday

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[-] Surp@lemmy.world 15 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Abstaining means against in my book

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[-] Linken@lemmy.world 14 points 1 month ago

My disappointment in the US continues to be consistent and expected.

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[-] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 13 points 1 month ago

So the US voted against so it didn't pass, yet again, I presume?

Fuck veto voting

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[-] blinfabian@feddit.nl 12 points 1 month ago

"against :3" they're using that emote in UN votes now?

[-] dessalines@lemmy.ml 12 points 1 month ago
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[-] plyth@feddit.org 11 points 1 month ago

Part of the EU explanation:

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

We were prepared to support a text that emphasises the scale of the atrocity of the transatlantic slave trade, the importance of remembrance, and the need to continue combating slavery in its contemporary forms. Instead, the text before us raises a number of legal and factual concerns that we cannot overlook.

3 arguments

First, the use of superlatives in the context of crimes against humanity is not legally accurate, such as the use of "gravest" in the title and throughout the text, which implies a hierarchy among atrocity crimes, when no legal hierarchy between crimes against humanity exists. It risks undermining the harm suffered by all victims of these crimes and lacks legal clarity crucial for ensuring accountability. We firmly reject introducing ambiguity in this respect.

Second, the selective inclusion of lengthy, historical, and contentious references to regional jurisprudence and selective and unbalanced interpretation of historical events - such as in Preambular Paragraphs 21 and 23 - is at odds with accepted UN practice, as well as the stated universal and forward looking objective of this initiative. It risks creating divisions when unity is both necessary and achievable. The role of the General Assembly is not to substitute itself to the academic debate amongst historians.

Third, we are also concerned by certain legal references and assertions that are either inaccurate or inconsistent with international law. This includes suggestions of a retroactive application of international rules which was non-existent at the time and claims for reparations, which is incompatible with established principles of international law. The principle of non-retroactivity, a fundamental cornerstone of the international legal order, must be strictly upheld. References to claims for reparations also lack a sound legal basis. Any framework for reparatory justice must be grounded in existing multilateral instruments.

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[-] Derpenheim@lemmy.zip 11 points 1 month ago

I fucking hate it here. Every god damn report is just like "USA is dystopian fascist hellhole" and I wish I could do something.

Then I remember my card declined for groceries this week and I get one step closer to being radicalized into political violence

[-] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 13 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

You can get organized! Join an org like PSL.

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[-] GrantUsEyes@lemmy.zip 11 points 1 month ago

For! And would you look at that... Practically all of europe abstaining, color me shocked (¬_¬)

Also... Argentina? YUCK! Sadly not a surprise either.

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[-] DivineChaos100@hexbear.net 10 points 1 month ago
[-] pressanykeynow@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago

So Serbia is the only European country with balls?

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[-] cheat700000007@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago

What does this vote achieve?

[-] orc_princess@lemmy.ml 20 points 1 month ago

It's meant to help get reparations for imperialized people

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this post was submitted on 26 Mar 2026
288 points (96.5% liked)

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