Since 1998, August 23, the date of the general slave revolt, galvanized by the Bois-Caïman Ceremony, has been declared by UNESCO "International Day of the Slave Trade and its Abolition".

Jean Emmanuel Jacquet, the Minister of Culture recalls that the week of August 14 to 23, 1791 was decisive for the conquest of civic freedoms for all within the Colony of Santo Domingo. "It was this decisive insurrection that led to Haitian national independence and it is the keystone of the transatlantic revolts at the basis of the inalienable principle of human rights."

"This date was chosen by the United Nations, in memory of the legendary feats of our ancestors on the battlefields in the Colony of Santo Domingo, should not only fill us with pride, but also challenge us to others historic meetings, as a standard-bearer for freedom in America and the rest of the world."

IH/ iciHaiti