Why US voted against Ghana's resolution to declare slavery a crime against humanity

The United States, along with Argentina and Israel, voted against a resolution for the United Nations to declare the slavery of Africans a crime against humanity. The resolution was sponsored by Ghana's President, John Dramani Mahama. This occurred during the debate on the resolution at the 80th United Nations General Assembly.

The US representative stated that the US government, led by President Donald Trump, opposed the resolution because the calls for reparations cannot hold due to the fact that slavery was legal during the era of the transatlantic slave trade. The representative also argued that Ghana's resolution suggests that reparations should be paid to people who were not directly affected by the slave trade. The US representative said, "While we acknowledge the horrors of the past, we do not accept this resolution's assertion that historical facts from the 15th through 19th century constitute violations of jus cogens, as the term is understood in contemporary international law." The representative added, "The United States also does not recognise a legal right to reparations for historical wrongs that were not illegal under international law at the time they occurred."

The US representative stated that the resolution goes against the main objective of the United Nations, which is the maintenance of world peace and security. The representative said, "We regret that the United States must once again remind this body that the United Nations exists to maintain international peace and security. It was not founded to advance narrow, specific interests and agendas, to establish niche international days, or to create new costly meeting and reporting mandates. This resolution does all three." The United States "strongly objects to the cynical usage of historical wrongs as a leverage point in an attempt to reallocate modern resources to people and nations who are distantly related to the historical victims."