In 1997, UNESCO designated 23 August as the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition, commemorating the uprising in Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti) that began on the night of 22-23 August 1791, when men and women taken from Africa and sold into slavery rose up against the slave system — a revolt that helped set in motion the eventual abolition of the transatlantic slave trade. The day was first observed in Haiti in 1998, and later on Gorée Island, Senegal, in 1999. The day aims to inscribe the tragedy of the slave trade into the collective memory of peoples, honor those who fought for freedom and human dignity, and remind the world that the legacy of slavery still shapes contemporary racial discrimination and exploitation. It also encourages teaching the history of the slave trade openly and comprehensively in school curricula worldwide. The day is marked through memorial events at historic sites linked to the slave trade, such as Gorée Island, lectures and exhibitions documenting this history, and discussions on historical justice and combating modern forms of enslavement such as human trafficking.