AS THE UN proclaimed 2004 as the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition, the director-general of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), Koïchiro Matsuura called for a universal recommitment to combat all contemporary forms of the scourge. "Aside from looking at the past, the intention is to sound the alarm about all forms of contemporary racism, discrimination and intolerance, and thus to set the stage for a greater awareness of the need to respect human beings," said Matsuura.