Monument To Victims Of Slave Trade Unveiled With Indian Contribution

UNITED NATIONS: India paid tributes to the human rights defenders who fought to abolish slavery and indentured labour at the unveiling at the UN headquarters in New York of a monument to the victims of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and slavery. India, which contributed $260,000, was the main donor to the Permanent Memorial Trust Fund for monument.

Delivering the opening remarks at the unveiling of the monument, India's Permanent Representative Asoke Kumar Mukerji recalled the work of the human rights defenders who waged a sustained campaign to end slave trade.

"The vigilance of these activists ensured that other laws passed to circumvent the banning of slavery, such as the use of indentured labour, with Mahatma Gandhi called 'a remmnant of slaver,' were similarly repealed," he said.

Mukerji noted the symbolism of locating the monument in New York not far from the Statue of Liberty, the icon of freedom and democracy.

"The Ark of Return unveiled here today is in many ways a counterpoint to the Statue of Liberty" he said. "Each memorial illuminates the meaning of the other."

Called The Ark of Return, the multifaceted white marble monument, has a motif of triangles with a sculpture of an African person at its center and a waterfall representing the tears of the 15 million men, women and children who were sent across the Atlantic as slaves.

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