The UN's cultural organisation, Unesco, set 23 August as International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition.The UN General Assembly has also proclaimed 2004 as International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition. Koichiro Matsuura, head of Unesco, said, "Although abolished and penalised in international instruments, [slavery] is still practised in new forms that today affect millions of men, women and children across the world."