Healing the Wounds of Slavery: Towards Mutual Recovery aims at healing the wounds and addressing the psycho-social, economic and political consequences of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and slave history. The focus is on creating pathways towards mutual recovery and cultural and institutional transformation.

The transatlantic slave trade involved a systematic deportation, and dehumanisation, of tens of millions of Africans. Its objective was to exploit their bodies and minds for economic profit. This subjugation entailed the use of extreme violence and barbaric behaviour, which caused incomparable misery and suffering that reverberates to this day throughout the Americas, Caribbean, Indian Ocean, Europe and Africa.

UNESCO Slave Route Project and GHFP have co-organised an international symposium hosted by the Berkley Center at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. on 18/19 October 2018. The Symposium aimed to address the root causes of racial prejudices and discrimination derived from slavery, both past and present.

Healing the Wounds of Slavery programme is a collaboration including the UNESCO Slave Route Project, Guerrand-Hermès Foundation for Peace, and Berkley Centre.

In view of the ignorance or concealment of major historical events that constitutes an obstacle to mutual understanding, reconciliation and cooperation amongst peoples, UNESCO embarked on a project that aims at breaking the silence surrounding the slave trade and slavery. For nearly 25 years, a rich diversity of projects and publications have been developed.

The integration of the programme within the relevant communities is crucial for the flourishing of global human societies as a whole.