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C. Rattray: Remarks at the Africa Day 2014 Celebration in New York
Written by H.E. Mr. Courtenay Rattray, Permanent Representative of Jamaica to the United Nations
Friday, May 23, 2014
Remarks by the Chair of the Permanent Memorial Committee on Slavery
at the Africa Day Celebration
New York, USA, May 23, 2014
Even as we celebrate Africa Day, I am mindful of the strong bonds that connect Africa and its Diaspora. Indeed, as I celebrate with you this evening, I certainly feel the fraternal and familial connections that not only emanate from our shared heritage but that also spur us into action to address future challenges and mutual goals.
Since 2007, Member States of the UN, led by CARICOM countries and the African Union, have embarked on a grand project to erect a monument on the grounds of the United Nations to serve as a Permanent Memorial to the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Through fruitful collaboration among our membership, we have been able to lead the process to the point where we have now entered the final stages of the project. Having selected the Ark of Return as the winning design from among 310 entries received from all over the world, the task now remains to construct and erect the memorial in a prominent location on the Visitor’s Plaza outside the General Assembly over the course of the forthcoming months.
At this critical juncture, we need your continued support to ensure that this noble project becomes a reality. As it now stands, the fund has a balance of $1.16 million. We anticipate the need for at least twice that amount.
On behalf of the Permanent Memorial Committee, I therefore urge you to consider the various ways and means by which each of us can play a part:
- We can encourage our Governments to make a voluntary contribution to the Permanent Memorial Trust Fund established to support the initiative;
- We can continue to raise awareness of the project and its meaning through public education, social media and in fora such as this;
- We can seek to mobilize the private sector in our home countries to make voluntary contributions;
- We can inform civil society and the non-profit organizations about this worthy project;
- The way is also open for each of us in our personal capacity to make voluntary contributions towards the project.
The memorial will serve as fitting tribute to the victims of slavery and a reminder to us all and generations to come that we should never allow such a horror to be repeated. I urge us all, therefore, to re-double our efforts to finish the mission on which we have embarked.
Let us ensure that through our collective efforts our United Nations will soon serve as host to a tangible tribute to our ancestors, to those who resisted, those who fought, those who survived and those who died for freedom.
Remember Slavery…Lest We Forget.
For details about the Africa Day 2014 celebration in New York, click here.