For the next two and a half decades, the commission held to this position on the basis that the UN Charter only required states to promote, rather than protect, human rights. On March 21, 1960, police in Sharpeville, South Africa, shot hundreds of people protesting laws that restricted the movement of blacks. The, For one, African American leaders in the 90s to the 20s attempted to end the disenfranchisement of African Americans, done through poll taxes and literacy tests, by advocating their cause in the more sympathetic North. Plaatjie, T. (1998) Focus: 'Sharpeville Heroes Neglected', The Sowetan, 20 March.|Reverend Ambrose Reeves (1966). As the number of UN members from Africa increased, the commission reversed its no power to act position and turned its attention to the human rights situation in South Africa. Sharpeville marked a turning point in South Africa's history; the country found itself increasingly isolated in the international community. Pogrund,B. In conclusion; Sharpeville, the imposition of a state of emergency, the arrest of thousands of Black people and the banning of the ANC and PAC convinced the anti-apartheid leadership that non-violent action was not going to bring about change without armed action. But in the aftermath of the Sharpeville massacre, the UN adopted a more interventionist stance towards the apartheid state. Although blood was not shed on Krogs hands directly, she took on the shame of her race. The Sharpeville Massacre in South Africa - Owlcation Ingrid de Kok was a child living on a mining compound near Johannesburg where her father worked at the time of the Sharpeville massacre. Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}264118S 275219E / 26.68833S 27.87194E / -26.68833; 27.87194. For the next two and a half decades, the commission held to this position on the basis that the UN Charter only required states to promote, rather than protect, human rights. African Americans demonstrated their frustration with lack of progress on the issue through non-violent means and campaigns led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr (Bourne, In a march against segregation and barriers for African-American voting rights, peaceful marchers were exposed to harsh treatment by the police, 50 being hospitalized by the terrorism inflicted on them (civilrights.org). Participants were instructed to surrender their reference books (passes) and invite arrest. Foundation remembers Sharpeville Massacre victims Forego a bottle of soda and donate its cost to us for the information you just learned, and feel good about helping to make it available to everyone. One of the insights has been that international law does not change unless there is some trigger for countries to change their behaviour. As part of its response, the General Assembly tasked the UN Commission on Human Rights to prepare the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the first global human rights treaty. Protestors asyoung as 12and13were killed. This caused many other countries to criticize South Africas apartheid policy. The Sharpeville Massacre On the morning of March 21, 1960, several thousand residents of Sharpeville marched to the township's police station. Tafelberg Publishers: Cape Town. This set the UN on the path towards the recognition of all human rights for all and, eventually, the establishment of the Human Rights Council and the Universal Periodic Review of the human rights performance of all states. The Sharpeville massacre sparked hundreds of mass protests by black South Africans, many of which were ruthlessly and violently crushed by the South African police and military. When the news of the Sharpeville Massacre reached Cape Town a group of between 1000 to 5000 protestors gathered at the Langa Flats bus terminus around 17h00 on 21 March 1960. The Department of Home Affairs (a government bureau) was responsible for the classification of the citizenry. Sharpeville Massacre Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays A state of emergency was declared in South Africa, more than 11,000 people were detained, and the PAC and ANC were outlawed. Copyright 2023 United Nations in South Africa, Caption: Selinah Mnguni, a Sharpeville massacre survivor, International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Sixty-nine Africans were killed and 186 were wounded, with most shot in the back. The police shot many in the back as they turned to flee, causing some to be paralyzed. Initially the police commander refused but much later, approximately 11h00, they were let through; the chanting of freedom songs continued and the slogans were repeated with even greater volume. As well as the introduction of the Race Convention, Sharpeville also spurred other moves at the UN that changed the way it could act against countries that breached an individuals human rights. The ban remained in effect until August 31, 1960. Time Magazine, (1960), The Sharpeville Massacre, A short history of pass laws in South Africa [online], from, Giliomee et al. T he Sharpeville massacre, the name given to the murder of 69 unarmed civilians by armed South African police, took place on 21 March 1960. It authorized the limited use of arms and sabotage against the government, which got the governments attentionand its anger! At least 180 were wounded. The Minister of Native Affairs declared that apartheid was a model for the world. The poet Duncan Livingstone, a Scottish immigrant from the Isle of Mull who lived in Pretoria, wrote in response to the Massacre the Scottish Gaelic poem Bean Dubh a' Caoidh a Fir a Chaidh a Marbhadh leis a' Phoileas ("A Black Woman Mourns her Husband Killed by the Police"). The presence of armoured vehicles and air force fighter jets overhead also pointed to unnecessary provocation, especially as the crowd was unarmed and determined to stage a non-violent protest. Both organisations were deemed a serious threat to the safety of the public and the vote stood at 128 to 16 in favour of the banning. Three people were killed and 26 others were injured. Copyright 20102023, The Conversation Media Group Ltd. March 21 is a public holiday in South Africa in commemoration of the Sharpeville massacre. The story of March 21 1960 is told by Tom Lodge, a scholar of South African politics, in his book Sharpeville. Britannica does not review the converted text. This, said Mr Subukwe, would cause prisons to become overcrowded, labour to dry up and the economy to grind to a halt. But attempts to transform this non-binding moral declaration into a binding legal code were immediately bogged down in cold war disputes. The ANC was encouraged and campaigned for democracy in South Africa. The subject of racial discrimination in South Africa was raised at the UN General Assembly in its first session, in 1946, in the form of a complaint by India concerning the treatment of Indians in the country. Despite the Sharpeville massacre feeling seismic in its brutality, "we all thought at that moment that it would cause a change in the political situation in South Africa," said Berry - "it was really ten years before anything changed." . When it seemed the whole group would cross, police took action, with mounted officers and volunteers arriving at 1:12 pm. On March 21, demonstrators disobeyed the pass laws by giving up or burning their pass books. According to his "Testimony about the Launch of the Campaign," Sobukwe declared: To read more witness accounts of the Sharpeville Massacre, click on the, According to an account from Humphrey Tyler, the assistant editor at, Afrikaner Nationalism, Anglo American and Iscor: formation of Highveld Steel and Vanadium Corporation, 1960-70 in Business History", The Sharpeville Massacre: Its historic significance in the struggle against apartheid, The PAC's War against the State 1960-1963, in The Road to Democracy in South Africa: 1960-1970, The Sharpeville Massacre - A watershed in SouthAfrica, Saluting Sharpevilles heroes, and South Africa's human rights, New Books | Robert Sobukwes letters from prison, South African major mass killings timeline 1900-2012, Origins: Formation, Sharpeville and banning, 1959-1960, 1960-1966: The genesis of the armed struggle, Womens resistance in the 1960s - Sharpeville and its aftermath, Eyewitness accounts of the Sharpeville massacre 1960, List of victims of police action, 21 March, 1960 (Sharpeville and Langa), A tragic turning-point: remembering Sharpeville fifty years on by Paul Maylam, Apartheid: Sharpeville Massacre, 21 March 1960, Commission of Enquiry into the Occurrences at Sharpeville (and other places) on the 21st March, 1960, Volume 1, Johannesburg, 15 June 1960, Commission of Enquiry into the Occurrences at Sharpeville (and other places) on the 21st March, 1960, Volume 2, Johannesburg, 15 June 1960, Documents, and articles relating to the Sharpeville Massacre 1960, Editorial comment: The legacy of Sharpeville, From Our Vault: Sharpeville, A Crime That Still Echoes by J Brooks Spector, 21 March 2013, South Africa, Message to the PAC on Sharpeville Day by Livingstone Mqotsi, Notes on the origins of the movement for Sanctions against South Africa by E.S. However, Foreign Consulates were flooded with requests for emigration, and fearful White South Africans armed themselves. We need the voices of young people to break through the silence that locks in discrimination and oppression. It also came to symbolize that struggle. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Significant reshaping of international law is often the result of momentous occurrences, most notably the first and second world wars. The massacre was photographed by photographer Ian Berry, who initially thought the police were firing blanks. Many of the civilians present attended voluntarily to support the protest, but there is evidence that the PAC also used coercive means to draw the crowd there, including the cutting of telephone lines into Sharpeville, and preventing bus drivers from driving their routes. Philip Finkie Molefe, responsible for establishing the first Assemblies of God church in the Vaal, was among the clergy that conducted the service.[11]. These resolutions established two important principles: that the human rights provisions in the UN Charter created binding obligations for member states, and that the UN could intervene directly in situations involving serious violations of human rights. . On March 21st, 1960, the Pan Africanists Congress, an anti-Apartheid splinter organization formed in 1959, organized a protest to the National Partys pass laws which required all citizens, as well as native Africans, to carry identification papers on them at all times. [10] Some insight into the mindset of those on the police force was provided by Lieutenant Colonel Pienaar, the commanding officer of the police reinforcements at Sharpeville, who said in his statement that "the native mentality does not allow them to gather for a peaceful demonstration. Selinah Mnguniwas 23 years old and already three months pregnant when she was injured in the Sharpeville massacre on 21 March 1960. Some were shot in the back as they fled.[1]. The United Nations Security Council and governments worldwide condemned the police action and the apartheid policies that prompted this violent assault. (1997) Focus: 'Prisoner 1', Sunday Life, 23 March. Over five thousand individuals came to protest the cause in Sharpeville. Sharpeville massacre marked turning point in South Africa's history The moral outrage surrounding these events led the United Nations General Assembly to pronounce 21 March as the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which recognized racism as a gross human rights violation. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. [10] Few of the policemen present had received public order training. In March 1960 the Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC), an antiapartheid party, organized nationwide protests against South Africas pass laws. This translates as shot or shoot. Across the street came 40 or so students who planned on joining the group en route to the Courthouse. The Sharpeville massacre sparked hundreds of mass protests by black South Africans. Now aged 84, Selinah says she is still proud of her efforts to end apartheid. "[6]:p.537, On 21 March 2002, the 42nd anniversary of the massacre, a memorial was opened by former President Nelson Mandela as part of the Sharpeville Human Rights Precinct.[22]. But change can also be prompted by seemingly minor events in global affairs, such as the Sharpeville massacre the so-called butterfly effect. However, the nations mentality needed work - though the popularity of Civil Rights was rising, many riots and racial hate crimes continued to occur throughout the country, with many casualties resulting from them (infoplease.com). On 30 March 1960, the government declared a state of emergency, detaining more than 18,000 people, including prominent anti-apartheid activists who were known as members of the Congress Alliance including Nelson Mandela and some still enmeshed in the Treason Trial. Sources disagree as to the behaviour of the crowd: some state that the crowd was peaceful, while others state that the crowd had been hurling stones at the police and that the mood had turned "ugly". I hated what it did to people, As Israelis dedicated to peace, we oppose Trump's apartheid plan, UN human rights head in unprecedented action against Indian government, Anyone can become a climate refugee. Max Roach's 1960 Album We Insist! By standing strong in the face of danger, the adults and children taking part in this demonstration were able to fight for their constitutional right to vote. BBC World Service - Witness History, The Sharpeville massacre The row of graves of the 69 people killed by police at the Sharpeville Police Station on 21 March 1960. International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, "Outside South Africa there were widespread reactions to Sharpeville in many countries which in many cases led to positive action against South Africa"., E.g., "[I]mmediately following the Sharpeville massacre in South Africa, over 1000 students demonstrated in Sydney against the apartheid system"., United Nations Security Council Resolution 610, United Nations Security Council Resolution 615, "The Sharpeville Massacre A watershed in South Africa", "The photos that changed history Ian Berry; Sharpeville Massacre", "Sharpeville Massacre, The Origin of South Africa's Human Rights Day", "Influential religious leader with 70-years in ministry to be laid to rest", "The Sharpeville Massacre - A watershed in South Africa", "Macmillan, Verwoerd and the 1960 'Wind of Change' Speech", "Naming history's forgotten fighters: South Africa's government is setting out to forget some of the alliance who fought against apartheid. The Apartheid was initiated as a ploy for Europeans to better control the exploited populations for economic gain, as maintaining tension between the different racial classifications diverted attention from the Europeans as it fed hatred between groups. Following the Brown decision, grassroots African American activists began challenging segregation through protests continuing into the 1960s (Aiken et al., 2013). Due to the illness, removals from Topville began in 1958. According to his "Testimony about the Launch of the Campaign," Sobukwe declared: At the press conference Sobukwe emphasized that the campaign should be conducted in a spirit of absolute non-violence and that the PAC saw it as the first step in Black people's bid for total independence and freedom by 1963 (Cape Times, 1960). Sharpeville, a black suburb outside of Vereeniging (about fifty miles south of Johannesburg), was untouched by anti-apartheid demonstrations that occurred in surrounding towns throughout the 1950s. Lancaster University provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation UK. African American History: Research Guides & Websites, Global African History: Research Guides & Websites, African American Scientists and Technicians of the Manhattan Project, Envoys, Diplomatic Ministers, & Ambassadors, Foundation, Organization, and Corporate Supporters. The key developments were the adoption of Resolution 1235 in 1967, which allowed for the examination of complaints of gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms, as exemplified by the policy of apartheid, and Resolution 1503 in 1970, which allowed the UN to examine complaints of a consistent pattern of gross and reliably attested violations of human rights. Police were temporarily paralyzed with indecision. Throughout the 1950s, South African blacks intensified their resistance against the oppressive apartheid system. Another officer interpreted this as an order and opened fire, triggering a lethal fusillade as 168 police constables followed his example. The Sharpeville massacre. Pheko, M. (2000) Focus: 'Lest We Forget Sharpeville', The Sowetan, 20 March. In the late 1980s, one of the most popular anti-apartheid movements that contributed to the end of the apartheid was the Free Mandela campaign. [13], A storm of international protest followed the Sharpeville shootings, including sympathetic demonstrations in many countries[14][15] and condemnation by the United Nations. By comparing and contrasting the American Jim Crow Laws and South African apartheid, we have evidence that both nations constitutions led to discrimination, activism, reform and reconciliation. Later the crowd grew to about 20,000,[5] and the mood was described as "ugly",[5] prompting about 130 police reinforcements, supported by four Saracen armoured personnel carriers, to be rushed in. But change can also be prompted by seemingly minor events in global affairs such as the Sharpeville massacre the so-called butterfly effect. After translating an article, all tools except font up/font down will be disabled. The two causes went hand in hand in this, rocketing in support and becoming the main goal of the country - the end of segregation was the most dire problem that the Civil Rights Movement needed to solve. Robert Sobukwe and other leaders were arrested and detained after the Sharpeville massacre, some for nearly three years after the incident. . Stephen Wheatley explores how this tragedypaved the way for themodern United Nations, Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in, Please refresh your browser to be logged in, Jennifer Davis: Exiled hero of South Africas anti-apartheid movement, Ralph Ziman: I hated apartheid. At its inaugural session in 1947, the UN Commission on Human Rights had decided that it had no power to take any action in regard to any complaints concerning human rights. Significant reshaping of international law is often the result of momentous occurrences, most notably the two world wars. The Sharpeville Massacre awakened the international community to the horrors of apartheid. He became South Africa's . These laws restricted blacks movements within the country. Sobukwe was only released in 1969. The subject of racial discrimination in South Africa was raised at the UN General Assembly in its first session, in 1946, in the form of a complaint by India concerning the treatment of Indians in the country. [10] At about 13:00 the police tried to arrest a protester, and the crowd surged forward. Just after 1pm, there was an altercation between the police officer in charge and the leaders of the demonstration. On the morning of 21 March Robert Sobukwe left his house in Mofolo, a suburb of Soweto, and began walking to the Orlando police station. Sunday marks the 50th anniversary of the day that changed the course of South African history. Often times individuals feel proud to be a member of their group and it becomes an important part of how they view themselves and their identity. Some 20,000 Blacks gathered near a police station at Sharpeville, located about 30 miles (50 km) south of Johannesburg. During the Eisenhower administration, Congress passed two measures that proved to be ineffective: the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and the Civil Rights Act of 1960. On 21 March 1960, sixty-nine unarmed anti-pass protesters were shot dead by police and over 180 were injured. This shows a significant similarity in that both time periods leaders attempted to achieve the goal of ending. And with the 24th Amendment, Civil Rights Act of 1964, and Voting Rights Act of 1965 being ratified, the civil rights movement and the fight to end segregation reached its legal goal (infoplease.com). On that day, demonstrations against the pass laws, which restricted the rights of the majority black population in apartheid South Africa, began in the early morning in Sharpeville, a township in Transvaal. Many others were not so lucky: 69 unarmed and non-violent protesters were gunned down by theSouth Africanpolice and hundreds more were injured. The 1960 Sharpeville Massacre was the result of a peaceful protest regarding racist South African policies of apartheid. The Sharpeville Massacre occurred on March 21, 1960, in the township of Sharpeville, South Africa. The Sharpeville Massacre is commemorated through Human Rights Day, a public holiday in South Africa, which honours those whose lives were sacrificed in the fight for democracy. One way of accomplishing this was by instilling laws thatd force segregation, classification, educational requirements, and economic purposes. Dr. Verwoerd praised the police for their actions. The quest for international support, mass mobilization, armed operations, and underground organization became the basis for the ANCs Four Pillars of Struggle. [12], Many White South Africans were also horrified by the massacre. As well as the introduction of the race convention, Sharpeville also spurred other moves at the UN that changed the way it could act against countries that breached an individuals human rights. In March 1960, Robert Sobukwe, a leader in the anti-apartheid Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC) organized the towns first anti-apartheid protest. These protests were to begin on 31 March 1960, but the rival Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC), led by Robert Sobukwe, decided to pre-empt the ANC by launching its own campaign ten days earlier, on 21 March, because they believed that the ANC could not win the campaign. They met a police line a few blocks from the Courthouse and were forbidden from proceeding because they did not have a parade permit (Reed 26). Our work on the Sustainable Development Goals. Sharpeville had a high rate of unemployment as well as high crime rates. After apartheid ended, President Nelson Mandela chose Sharpeville as the place to sign South Africas new constitution on December 10, 1996. Take a minute to check out all the enhancements! March 21 Massacre in Sharpeville In the Black township of Sharpeville, near Johannesburg, South Africa, Afrikaner police open fire on a group of unarmed Black South African demonstrators,. The Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC), a splinter group of the African National Congress (ANC) created in 1959, organized a countrywide demonstration for March 21, 1960, for the abolition of South Africas pass laws. Although the protests were anticipated, no one could have predicted the consequences and the repercussions this would have for South African and world politics. The South African government then created the Unlawful Organizations Act of 1960 which banned anti-apartheid groups such as the Pan Africanist Congress and the African National Congress. (2000) Focus: 'Lest We Forget', Sunday World, 19 March. The logjam was only broken after the Sharpeville massacre, as the UN decided to deal with the problem of apartheid South Africa. In 1994, Mandela signed the nations first post-apartheid constitution near the site of the 1960 massacre. apartheid: aftermath of the deadly Sharpeville demonstration, This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/event/Sharpeville-massacre, Canadian Museum for Human Rights - The Sharpeville Massacre, South African History Online - Sharpeville Massacre, Sharpeville massacre - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11), Sharpeville massacre - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). In response, a police officer shouted in Afrikaans skiet or nskiet (exactly which is not clear), which translates either as shot or shoot. Journalists who rushed there from other areas, after receiving word that the campaign was a runaway success confirmed "that for all their singing and shouting the crowd's mood was more festive than belligerent" (David M. Sibeko, 1976). Stephen Wheatley is a professor of international law at Lancaster University. Sharpeville massacre - Kids | Britannica Kids | Homework Help The movement in this period that revived the political opposition against the apartheid was the Black Consciousness Movement. The mood of the protest had started out as peaceful and festive when there were . Matthews called on all South Africans to mark a national day of mourning for the victims on the 28 March. Half a century has passed but memories of the Sharpeville massacre still run deep. Race, ethnicity and political groups, is an example of this. 26 Black policemen and 365 Black civilians were injured no White police men were killed and only 60 were injured. The significance of the date is reflected in the fact that. Accounting & Finance; Business, Companies and Organisation, Activity; Case Studies; Economy & Economics; Marketing and Markets; People in Business Sharpeville was much more than a single tragic event. In the following days 77 Africans, many of whom were still in hospital, were arrested for questioning . Updates? A robust humanrights framework is the only way to provide a remedy for those injustices, tackle inequality and underlying structural differences, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Sharpeville Massacre, The Origin of South Africa's Human Rights Day [online], available at: africanhistory.about.com [accessed 10 March 2009]|Thloloe, J. p. 334- 336|Historical Papers Archive of the University of the Witwatersrand [online] Accessed at: wits.ac.za and SAHA archive [link no longer available]. [5], The official figure is that 69 people were killed, including 8 women and 10 children, and 180 injured, including 31 women and 19 children. The event was an inspiration for painter Oliver Lee Jackson in his Sharpeville Series from the 1970s.[23]. Baileys African History. The police and army arrested thousands of Africans, who were imprisoned with their leaders, but still the mass action raged. Tear gas was again fired into the crowd but because of wind the gas had little effect on dispersing the students, some of the protesters picked up the tear gas canisters and threw them back at the Guard. On the day passes were suspended (25 March 1960) Kgosana led another march of between 2000 and 5000 people from Langa to Caledon Square. Sharpeville is a township near Vereeniging, in the Gauteng province of South Africa.