The Sharpeville massacre was a turning point in South African history. Stephen Wheatley is a professor of international law at Lancaster University. The foundation of Poqo, the military wing of the PAC, and Umkhonto we Sizwe, the military wing of the ANC, followed shortly afterwards. In 1960, states had no binding international human rights obligations with oversight mechanisms. It was a sad day for black 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. According to the police, protesters began to stone them and, without any warning, one of the policemen on the top of an armoured car panicked and opened fire. The police ordered the crowd to disperse within 3 minutes. When it seemed the whole group would cross, police took action, with mounted officers and volunteers arriving at 1:12 pm. We must listen to them, learn from them, and work with them to build a better future.. Sixty-nine protesters died, and the massacre became an iconic moment in the struggle against apartheid. Robert Sobukwe and other leaders were arrested and detained after the Sharpeville massacre, some for nearly three years after the incident. 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). The Sharpeville Massacre, 1960 Police Attack Demonstrators in Sharpeville, March 21, 1960 Few events loom larger in the history of the apartheid regime than those of the afternoon of March 21, 1960, in Sharpeville, South Africa. This abuse towards people of colour in South Africa made people around the world want to protest against South Africa's government. Some of them had been on duty for over twenty-four hours without respite. The Sharpeville massacre sparked hundreds of mass protests by black South Africans. According to an account from Humphrey Tyler, the assistant editor at Drum magazine: The police have claimed they were in desperate danger because the crowd was stoning them. Early on that March morning, demonstrations against the pass laws, which restricted the rights of apartheid South Africas majority black population, had begun in Sharpeville, a township in Transvaal. This was in direct defiance of the government's country-wide ban on public meetings and gatherings of more than ten persons. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. The University had tried to ban the protest; they handed out 12,000 leaflets saying the event was cancelled. Throughout the 1950s, South African blacks intensified their resistance against the oppressive apartheid system. By the end of the day, 69 people lay dead or dying, with hundreds more injured. Although blood was not shed on Krogs hands directly, she took on the shame of her race. On the same day, the government responded by declaring a state of emergency and banning all public meetings. When an estimated group of 5000 marchers reached Sharpeville police station, the police opened fire killing 69 people and injuring 180 others in what became known as the Sharpeville Massacre. The story of March 21 1960 is told by Tom Lodge, a scholar of South African politics, in his book Sharpeville. Lined up outside was a large contingent of armed police with some atop armoured cars. Let's Take Action Towards the Sustainable Development Goals. And then there are those who feel deeply involved and moved, but also powerless to deal with the enormity of the situation (Krog 221). In the following days 77 Africans, many of whom were still in hospital, were arrested for questioning . Other witnesses claimed there was no order to open fire, and the police did not fire a warning shot above the crowd. Many others were not so lucky: 69 unarmed and non-violent protesters were gunned down by theSouth Africanpolice and hundreds more were injured. and [proved to be] the only antidote against foreign rule and modern imperialism (Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom 2008, 156) . These two industries experienced rapid growth in the immediate aftermath of World War II and continued growing into the 1950s and 1960s. The impact of the events in Cape Town were felt in other neighbouring towns such as Paarl, Stellenbosch, Somerset West and Hermanus as anti-pass demonstrations spread. This assisted in minimizing unity between the exploited to rally against European control as it backhandedly induced submission for survival. The Sharpeville massacre occurred on 21 March 1960 at the police station in the township of Sharpeville in the then Transvaal Province of the then Union of South Africa (today part of Gauteng). Sharpeville is a township near Vereeniging, in the Gauteng province of South Africa . Through a series of mass actions, the ANC planned to launch a nationwide anti-pass campaign on 31 March - the anniversary of the 1919 anti-pass campaign. The term human rights was first used in the UN Charter in 1945. The massacre was one of the catalysts for a shift from passive resistance to armed resistance by these organisations. The Sharpeville massacre. Pretoria, South Africa, The blood we sacrificed was worth it - Sharpeville Massacre, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Welcome to the United Nations country team website of South Africa. [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. A dompass in those days was an Identification Document that determined who you were, your birth date, what race you are and permission from your employers to be in a specific place at a specific time. After apartheid ended, President Nelson Mandela chose Sharpeville as the place to sign South Africas new constitution on December 10, 1996. To read more about the protests in Cape Town. 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. It can be considered the beginning of the international struggle to bring an end to apartheid in South . UNESCO marks 21 March as the yearly International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, in memory of the massacre. Baileys African History Archive (BAHA)Crowds fleeing from bullets on the day of the Massacre. In the aftermath of the events of 21 March, mass funerals were held for the victims. A state of emergency was announced in South Africa. The OHCHR Regional Office for Southern Africa also produced a series of digital stories on the Sharpeville massacre and young peoples concerns about their human rights. [17], Not all reactions were negative: embroiled in its opposition to the Civil Rights Movement, the Mississippi House of Representatives voted a resolution supporting the South African government "for its steadfast policy of segregation and the [staunch] adherence to their traditions in the face of overwhelming external agitation. He was tricked into dispersing the crowd and was arrested by the police later that day. Later, in the fifties and the sixties, these same goals, enlign poll taxes and literacy tests, were once again fought for by African American leaders, through advocacy and agitation. Eyewitness accounts attest to the fact that the people were given no warning to disperse. 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 Sharpeville massacre, the name given to the murder of 69 unarmed civilians by armed South African police, took place on 21 March 1960. The South African government began arresting more nonconformists and banning resistance organizations, such as the African National Congress and the Pan African Congress. [10] At about 13:00 the police tried to arrest a protester, and the crowd surged forward. 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. [13], A storm of international protest followed the Sharpeville shootings, including sympathetic demonstrations in many countries[14][15] and condemnation by the United Nations. Sharpeville Massacre, The Origin of South Africa's Human Rights Day [online], available at: africanhistory.about.com [accessed 10 March 2009]|Thloloe, J. After translating an article, all tools except font up/font down will be disabled. Find out what the UN in South Africa is doing towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. Witness History. By mid-day approximately 300 armed policemen faced a crowd of approximately 5000 people. It is likely that the police were quick to fire as two months before the massacre, nine constables had been assaulted and killed, some disembowelled, during a raid at Cato Manor. During this event 5,000 to 7,000 protesters went to the police station after a day of demonstrations, offering themselves for arrest for not carrying passbooks. As segregation and civil rights become national topics, their. It had wide ramifications and a significant impact. They also perpetuated the segregation within, The increase in the segregationist laws in the 1950s was met with resistance in the form of the Defiance Campaign that started in 1952. 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. 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). Learn about employment opportunities across the UN in South Africa. Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in, Its been 60 years since dozens of protesters were killed at a peaceful anti-apartheid rally in South Africa. Under this system there was an extended period of gruesome violence against individuals of colored skin in South Africa. 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. The victims included about 50 women and children. Business Studies. However, Foreign Consulates were flooded with requests for emigration, and fearful White South Africans armed themselves. Corrections? It include with civil right that violence verses non-violence that the government could or. That day about 20,000 people gathered near the Sharpeville police station. Sharpeville had a high rate of unemployment as well as high crime rates. 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. As the protesters tried to flee the violent scene, police continued to shoot into the crowd. The ratification of these laws may have made the separate but equal rhetoric illegal for the U.S. but the citizens inside it still battled for their beliefs. The 1960 Sharpeville Massacre was the result of a peaceful protest regarding racist South African policies of apartheid. A policeman was accidently pushed over and the crowd began to move forward to see what was happening. After demonstrating against pass laws, a crowd of about 7,000 protesters went to the police station. This riot was planned to be a peaceful riot for a strike on an 8-hour day, ended up turning into a battle between protesters and the police. 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". 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. By 1960 the. Confrontation in the township of Sharpeville, Gauteng Province. Perseverance and determination are also needed to build on the lessons learnedfrom the Sharpeville tragedy and repair the injustices of the past. March 16 saw a demonstration in Montgomery, Alabama in which 580 demonstrators planned to march from the Jackson Street Baptist Church to the Montgomery County Courthouse (Reed 26). The Black Consciousness Movement sparked mass protests among Blacks and prompted other liberation movements to demonstrate against the apartheid. A small donation would help us keep this available to all. In 1960 it was the site of one of the earliest and most violent demonstrations against apartheid . Riding into the small group of protestors, they forced most to withdraw, but a few stood fast around a utility pole where horsemen began to beat them. The ANC and PAC were forced underground, and both parties launched military wings of their organisations in 1961. Significant reshaping of international law is often the result of momentous occurrences, most notably the two world wars. 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. On 1 April 1960, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 134. [5] The police began shooting shortly thereafter. Selinah Mnguniwas 23 years old and already three months pregnant when she was injured in the Sharpeville massacre on 21 March 1960. He was followed by Dr. Yusuf Dadoo, Chairperson of the South African Indian Congress and Chairperson of the underground South African Communist Party. The adoption of the convention was quickly followed by two international covenants on economic, social and cultural rights and on civil and political rights in 1966, introduced to give effect to the rights in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Sharpeville massacre occurred on 21 March 1960 at the police station in the township of Sharpeville in the then Transvaal Province of the then Union of South Africa (today part of Gauteng ). As an act of rebellion the passes were set alight, as seen in a picture by Ranjith Kally. Sixty-nine Africans were killed and 186 were wounded, with most shot in the back. Another officer interpreted this as an order and opened fire, triggering a lethal fusillade as 168 police constables followed his example. The argument against apartheid was now framed as a specific manifestation of a wider battle for human rights and it was the only political system mentioned in the 1965 Race Convention: nazism and antisemitism were not included. These laws restricted blacks movements within the country. 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. Following the dismantling of apartheid, South African President Nelson Mandela chose Sharpeville as the site at which, on December 10, 1996, he signed into law the countrys new constitution. 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. The people were throwing their hats to the aeroplanes. (2007), New History of South Africa. Half a century has passed but memories of the Sharpeville massacre still run deep. Migration is a human right, How the Sharpeville massacre changed the United Nations, Extra 20% off selected fashion and sportswear at Very, Up to 20% off & extra perks with Booking.com Genius Membership, $6 off a $50+ order with this AliExpress discount code, 10% off selected orders over 100 - eBay discount code, Compare broadband packages side by side to find the best deal for you, Compare cheap broadband deals from providers with fastest speed in your area, All you need to know about fibre broadband, Best Apple iPhone Deals in the UK March 2023, Compare iPhone contract deals and get the best offer this March, Compare the best mobile phone deals from the top networks and brands. Time Magazine, (1960), The Sharpeville Massacre, A short history of pass laws in South Africa [online], from, Giliomee et al. In November 1961, a military branch of the party was organized with Mandela as its head. As part of its response, the General Assembly tasked the UN Commission on Human Rights to prepare the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the first global human rights treaty. Protestors asyoung as 12and13were killed. A protest that had been scheduled three days earlier was planned for noon on Monday, May 4. But attempts to transform this non-binding moral declaration into a binding legal code were immediately bogged down in cold war disputes. The police also have said that the crowd was armed with 'ferocious weapons', which littered the compound after they fled. The Sharpeville Massacre occurred on March 21, 1960, in the township of Sharpeville, South Africa. We hope you and your family enjoy the NEW Britannica Kids. . The PAC organised demonstration attracted between 5,000 and 7,000 protesters. The Minister of Justice called for calm and the Minister of Finance encouraged immigration. The massacre occurred at the police station in the South African township of Sharpeville, A child demonstrates in front of Johannesburgs city hall after the Sharpeville massacre (AFP/Getty), The aftermath of the Sharpeville massacre, The BritishAnti-Apartheid Movement marks the tenth anniversary of the massacre with a re-enactmentin Trafalgar Square, A family member stands next to a memorial toone of the victims of the Sharpeville massacre ahead of Human Rights Day in 2016 (AFP/Getty), Its been 60 years since dozens of protesters were killed at a peaceful anti-apartheid rally in South Africa. A deranged White man, David Pratt, made an assassination attempt on Dr. Verwoerd, who was seriously injured. An article entitled "PAC Campaign will be test," published in the 19 March 1960 issue of Contact,the Liberal Party newspaper, described the build up to the campaign: At a press conference held on Saturday 19th March 1960, PAC President Robert Sobukwe announced that the PAC was going to embark on an anti-pass campaign on Monday the 21st. These resolutions established two important principles: that the human rights provisions in the UN Charter created binding obligations for member states, and the UN could intervene directly in situations involving serious violations of human rights. Accessible across all of today's devices: phones, tablets, and desktops. But it was not until after Sharpeville that the UN made clear that the countrys system of racial segregation would no longer be tolerated. (2000) Focus: 'Lest We Forget', Sunday World, 19 March. Just after 1pm, there was an altercation between the police officer in charge and the leaders of the demonstration. The events also prompted theInternational Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discriminationwhich took effect on 4 January 1969. Within hours the news of the killing at Sharpeville was flashed around the world. The police response to the protest became the primary cause of the massacre. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. With the election of Nelson Mandela as president of South Africa in 1994, the apartheid system ended. When police opened . As a result of racial segregation, resistance from coloured people in both the United States and South Africa escalated. 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). The campaign slogan was "NO BAIL! Britannica does not review the converted text. The PAC called on its supporters to leave their passes at home on the appointed date and gather at police stations around the country, making themselves available for arrest. 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. [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. The rally began peacefully, the iron bell was rung (usually it was rung to signal victories in football games) and one speaker started to speak. In 1946, the UN established the Commission on Human Rights, whose first job was to draft a declaration on human rights. Due to the illness, removals from Topville began in 1958. The ANC Vice-President, Oliver Tambo, was secretly driven across the border by Ronel Segal into the then British controlled territory of Bechunaland. 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. But in the aftermath of the Sharpeville massacre, the UN adopted a more interventionist stance to the apartheid state. . About 69 Blacks were killed and more than 180 wounded, some 50 women and children being among the victims. During the shooting about 69 black people were killed. By 1960, however, anti-apartheid activism reached the town. 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. Please note: Text within images is not translated, some features may not work properly after translation, and the translation may not accurately convey the intended meaning. In March 1960 the Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC), an antiapartheid party, organized nationwide protests against South Africas pass laws. All Rights Reserved. This day is now commemorated annually in South Africa as a public . The term human rights was first used in the UN Charter in 1945. The ban remained in effect until August 31, 1960. 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. 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. The South African governments repressive measures in response to the Sharpeville Massacre, however, intensified and expended the opposition to apartheid, ushering in three decades of resistance and protest in the country and increasing condemnation by world leaders. The PAC and the African National Congress, another antiapartheid party, were banned. "[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]. In 1994, Mandela signed the nations first post-apartheid constitution near the site of the 1960 massacre. The firing lasted for approximately two minutes, leaving 69 people dead and, according to the official inquest, 180 people seriously wounded. . The police were armed with firearms, including Sten submachine guns and LeeEnfield rifles. One of the insights has been that international law does not change unless there is some trigger for countries to change their behaviour. The commission completed this task, under the chairmanship of Eleanor Roosevelt, when it finalised the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. The Afrikaner poet Ingrid Jonker mentioned the Sharpeville Massacre in her verse. 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. Three people were killed and 26 others were injured. NO FINE!" On March 21, 1960, police in Sharpeville, South Africa, shot hundreds of people protesting laws that restricted the movement of blacks. Lancaster University provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation UK. He became South Africa's . 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). As they attempted to disperse the crowd, a police officer was knocked down and many in the crowd began to move forward to see what had happened. Significant reshaping of international law is often the result of momentous occurrences, most notably the first and second world wars. [2] In present-day South Africa, 21 March is celebrated as a public holiday in honour of human rights and to commemorate the Sharpeville massacre. The Sharpsville Massacre was a seminal moment in the history of South Africa. But even still, southern activists worked to defend the practice of segregation. 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 . The apartheid system forcefully suppressed any resistance, such as at Sharpeville on March 21 1960, when 69 blacks were killed, and the Soweto Riots 1976-77, when 576 people died. "[1] He also denied giving any order to fire and stated that he would not have done so. The Sharpeville Massacre On the morning of March 21, 1960, several thousand residents of Sharpeville marched to the township's police station. Police witnesses claimed that stones were thrown, and in a panicked and rash reaction, the officers opened fire on the crowd. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. However, many people joined the procession quite willingly. Choose a language from the menu above to view a computer-translated version of this page. When the demonstrators began to throw stones at the police, the police started shooting into the crowd. By lunchtime, the crowd outside the police station had grown to an estimated 20,000 people. It was a system of segregation put in place by the National Party, which governed in South Africa from 1948 to 1994. 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. OHCHRs regional representative Abigail Noko used the opportunity to call on all decision-makers to give youth a seat at the decision-making table. Take a minute to check out all the enhancements! Sharpeville Massacre Newzroom Afrika 229K subscribers Subscribe 178 Share 19K views 2 years ago As South Africa commemorates Human Rights Day, victims and families of those who died at the. The police shot many in the back as they turned to flee, causing some to be paralyzed. All blacks were required to carry ``pass books ' ' containing fingerprints, photo and information on access to non-black areas. The march was also led by Clarence Makwetu, the Secretary of the PACs New Flats branch. It was one of the first and most violent demonstrations against apartheid in South Africa. The movement in this period that revived the political opposition against the apartheid was the Black Consciousness Movement. Courtesy BaileySeippel Gallery/BAHA Source. Furthermore, a new police station was created, from which the police were energetic to check passes, deporting illegal residents, and raiding illegal shebeens. Following the Sharpeville massacre, as it came to be known, the death toll rose to 69 and the number of injuries to 180. This article first appeared on The Conversation, Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies. The United Nations Security Council and governments worldwide condemned the police action and the apartheid policies that prompted this violent assault. Police were temporarily paralyzed with indecision. Individuals over sixteen were required to carry passbooks, which contained an identity card, employment and influx authorisation from a labour bureau, name of employer and address, and details of personal history. 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. The logjam was only broken after the Sharpeville massacre as the UN decided to deal with the problem of apartheid South Africa. Some 20,000 Blacks gathered near a police station at Sharpeville, located about 30 miles (50 km) south of Johannesburg.