With the project The Slave Route, UNESCO intends to break the silence on slave trade and slavery, to objectively clarify the consequences and interactions resulting from the slave trade –particularly the interactions between the peoples who suffered from it in Africa, the Western Hemisphere, Europe, the Indian Ocean and the Middle East, as well as the many aspects that have played a role in founding modern societies, their culture, knowledge, beliefs and behaviour- and to contribute to the establishment of a culture of tolerance and peaceful coexistence between races and peoples, favouring at the same time the reflection on cultural pluralism, the construction of new identities and intercultural dialogue. UNESCO also struggles against the new forms of slavery promoting prevention campaigns adapted to local cultures.

UNESCO's General Conference approved the Project The Slave Route in its 27th session, held in 1993 (Resolution 27 C/3.13), after a proposal from Haiti and a group of African countries.

It was officially launched in September 1994, during the first meeting of its International Scientific Committee held in Ouidah, Benin. In 2014, the project celebrated its 20th anniversary.

With the project The Slave Route, UNESCO intends to break the silence on slave trade and slavery, to objectively clarify the consequences and interactions resulting from the slave trade –particularly the interactions between the peoples who suffered from it in Africa, the Western Hemisphere, Europe, the Indian Ocean and the Middle East, as well as the many aspects that have played a role in founding modern societies, their culture, knowledge, beliefs and behaviour- and to contribute to the establishment of a culture of tolerance and peaceful coexistence between races and peoples, favouring at the same time the reflection on cultural pluralism, the construction of new identities and intercultural dialogue. UNESCO also struggles against the new forms of slavery promoting prevention campaigns adapted to local cultures.

UNESCO's General Conference approved the Project The Slave Route in its 27th session, held in 1993 (Resolution 27 C/3.13), after a proposal from Haiti and a group of African countries.

It was officially launched in September 1994, during the first meeting of its International Scientific Committee held in Ouidah, Benin. In 2014, the project celebrated its 20th anniversary.

With the project The Slave Route, UNESCO intends to break the silence on slave trade and slavery, to objectively clarify the consequences and interactions resulting from the slave trade –particularly the interactions between the peoples who suffered from it in Africa, the Western Hemisphere, Europe, the Indian Ocean and the Middle East, as well as the many aspects that have played a role in founding modern societies, their culture, knowledge, beliefs and behaviour- and to contribute to the establishment of a culture of tolerance and peaceful coexistence between races and peoples, favouring at the same time the reflection on cultural pluralism, the construction of new identities and intercultural dialogue. UNESCO also struggles against the new forms of slavery promoting prevention campaigns adapted to local cultures.

UNESCO's General Conference approved the Project The Slave Route in its 27th session, held in 1993 (Resolution 27 C/3.13), after a proposal from Haiti and a group of African countries.

It was officially launched in September 1994, during the first meeting of its International Scientific Committee held in Ouidah, Benin. In 2014, the project celebrated its 20th anniversary.

Among others, the project has contributed to the following actions:

• The recognition of the slave trade and slavery as a crime against Humanity at the World Conference Against Racism held in Durban, South Africa, in 2001;

• The proclamation of 23 August as the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition;

• The proclamation of the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition (2004), marking the 200th anniversary of the Haitian revolution;

• The proclamation of 2011 as International Year for People of African Descent;

• The construction of a Permanent Memorial at the United Nations in New York to honour the victims of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade.

• The proclamation of the International Decade for People of African Descent

From the very beginning of the project, the UNESCO Regional Office for Culture in Latin America and the Caribbean has maintained close relations with the ISC and the National Committees of the Member States of the Region, especially in the framework of the New Strategy of the project. Following the project's objectives, a number of actions have been carried out by the Office, among them:

• Publication of a special issue of the Newsletter of the Portal on the occasion of the 20th Anniversary of the Slave Route Project (2014).

• Edition of a special issue of the Newsletter of the Portal (2012) on the activities in the Region during the International Year for People of African Descent.

• Co-auspice of a comprehensive programme of activities in Latin America and the Caribbean on the occasion of the International Year for People of African Descent (2011).

• Launching of a web page dedicated to the International Year for People of African Descent in the Portal of Culture of Latin America and the Caribbean (2011).

• Production of an audiovisual on people of African descent, in collaboration with the International School of Cinema and TV of San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba, on the occasion of the International Year.

• Publication of two issues of Oralidad devoted to the theme of the people of African descent: Nº 17, "Afroamérica", dedicated to the International Year for People of African Descent (2011), and Nº 13, "The African Roots" (2006).

• Attendance at the Meeting "Cultural Universe of the People of African Descent in Latin America" (Esmeraldas, Ecuador, 26-28 October 2010).

• Welcome to the schooner Amistad, as part of the commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the project implemented by the US NGO Amistad America and on the occasion of the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade (2010).

• Collaboration in the official inauguration of the Cuban National Museum of the Slave Route (2009).

• Premiere of the Spanish version of the documentary The Slave Routes: A Global Vision, in collaboration with the United Nations Resource Center for Mexico, Cuba and Dominican Republic (2009).

• Implementation of the project Places of Memory of the Slave Route in the Latin Caribbean, whose main results were the identification of 25 sites in Aruba, Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic and the dissemination of that results in a multimedia in three languages, through a CD and a web page in the Portal of Culture of Latin America and the Caribbean (2008).

• Participation in a meeting of the Slave Route National Committees of Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic (Santo Domingo, 4-5 December 2007).

• Meeting of Experts on the Project "Places of Memory of the Slave Route in the Latin Caribbean" (Havana, 17-19 May 2006).

• Sponsorship of the project "Redescubriendo la memoria ancestral" [Re-discovering the ancient memory] (Santo Domingo, 26-27 August 2005).

• Contribution to the publication and launching of the book Los Gangá en Cuba, by the Fernando Ortiz Foundation (2005).

• Support to the edition and presentation of the book Cazadores de esclavos, by the Fernando Ortiz Foundation (2004).

• International meeting on the Project on the Transatlantic Slave Trade in the Archives (Havana, 22-24 November 2004).

• Celebration of the International Year of the Commemoration of the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (2004).

• Permanent dissemination through the Portal of Culture of Latin America and the Caribbean of the actions implemented in the Region in the framework of the Slave Route Project, as well as the messages from the UNESCO Director-General and documents of interest on the topic.

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