Effects of the ‘genocide’ classification in Africa – DW – 11/11/2025

The recent Summit of the African Union (AU) approached the legacies of colonialism, slavery and systemic discrimination in the continent.

The February meeting in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Abeba, focused on reparative justice and racial healing for Africans and people of African descent.

After the Summit, which was dominated by the conflicts in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement Praising the adoption of a decision “to classify slavery, deportation and colonization as crimes against humanity and acts of genocide perpetrated against African peoples.”

“The decision to classify slavery, deportation and colonization as crimes against humanity and genocide against the peoples of Africa is a crucial step, a victory for Africa in its search for self -determination and control over their own destiny,” according to a statement By Professor Robert Dussey, Togolesa Foreign Minister, after a vote on the resolution initiated by his country.

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Possible legal consequences

Historian’s professor Benino Didier Houenude, an art expert looted during slavery and colonization, believes that the resolution could strengthen Africa’s position in international negotiations on memory, justice and historical inequalities.

“This means that the African Union could request compensation of colonial nations, that is, the western nations that participated in the Transatlantic Slave trade, for the victims who suffered these practices,” he explained.

The text establishes a legal framework that officially and internationally defines the acts of slavery, forced deportation and colonization as crimes against humanity and acts of genocide, emphasizing that they were “planned and executed methodically” in the detriment of African populations, The African press agency (APA) reported.

However, Christian Tomuschat, Professor Emeritus of Public Law and International Law at the University of Humboldt in Berlin, questions the importance of the text.

“I respect the opinion that colonization constituted a crime against humanity. One can approve such a resolution, but has no legal consequences, even under the doctrine of modern international law,” said Tomuschat.

“There are classic international law rules that stipulate that any injustice must be remedied through compensation,” added Tomuschat, who is also a member of the UN Human Rights Council and the UN International Law Commission.

“This is a development in modern international law, but it cannot be applied retroactively to the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.”

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What does international law say?

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is responsible for prosecuting people accused of genocide or war crimes.

Article 7 of its statute defines crimes against humanity as a reference to “any of the following acts when it is committed as part of a generalized or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack.”

These acts include murder, extermination, slavery, deportation, torture, rape, sexual slavery and apartheid.

This definition also includes the persecution of any identifiable group or community based on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious or gender -related criteria.

Beyond this framework, no other international legal mechanisms allows African states to demand binding repairs. However, some legal experts believe that this resolution could encourage institutions such as the International Court of Justice (ICI).

A symbolic and political advance

Houenude suggested that the resolution adopted will redefine how history is taught in African schools.

“I think that these crucial moments in human history will be taught from primary school onwards, emphasizing the fact that a part of humanity committed a crime against another,” said Houenude. “This will help shape the identity and historical conscience of Africans.”

The historian Benino, who is currently in the German city of Dresde as part of his research on art objects and other assets taken during colonization, believes that the measure of the African union could also facilitate the restitution of these artifacts.

“The majority of the works shown in the museums were acquired illegally and must be returned. Personally, I find that exhibiting the remains of ancestors in a museum is a shameless sign of lack of respect. A museum is not destined to that. The remains of ancestors are destined to be buried,” he said.

This initiative of the African Union responds to the persistent calls of African civil society and the organizations of the diaspora, which have long advocated for a long time for the official recognition of the inflicted suffering during these dark periods of history.

The resolution adopted represents a symbolic and political advance, but its specific effects will probably depend on the diplomatic and legal actions that African states choose to follow.

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Edited by: Keith Walker