Ecumenical conference pays homage to victims of slave trade

A major ecumenical gathering to commemorate victims of the transatlantic slave trade concluded last Friday after a week of examining how the global church can adequately respond to the trade's modern legacies of economic oppression and racism.

Around sixty theologians, church leaders, social scientists and activists from Africa, the Americas and the Caribbean gathered in Runaway Bay, Jamaica, for the 10 - 14 December conference "Abolished, but not destroyed: Remembering the slave trade in the 21st century".

The conference was organised by the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC), the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Council for World Mission (CWM) and addressed modern forms of slavery including human trafficking for sex and labour, bonded labour, child labour, sweatshops and endless cycles of poverty.

Throughout 2007, churches in the UK and internationally have held special services and events to commemorate and educate people on the bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act in 1807.

"Although the termination of the British transatlantic slave trade did not end the global trading in Africans who were enslaved, its 200th anniversary is one of the most important markers in the history of humankind, for it signalled a victory for human liberation movements against the international trading of humans," said Oliver Patterson of the United States, a member of WARC's Executive Committee.

He added that delegates would leave the conference "demanding economic and racial justice for descendents of the enslaved and for humanity".

WARC general secretary Setri Nyomi, meanwhile, described the slave trade as a "major shame" in the history of humanity, and added that the structure of the modern global economy was another source of enslavement for millions of people in Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America and Asia.

"Descendants of those who were stolen from Africa and brought to the Americas continue to suffer and the church often looks on silently," he said.

The conference was hosted by the United Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands.