[10] At about 13:00 the police tried to arrest a protester, and the crowd surged forward. On 24 March 1960, in protest of the . A lot of Afrikaners felt a sense of guilt for the behavior they allowed to happen from their race towards another. All the evidence points to the gathering being peaceful and good-humoured. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. A state of emergency was declared in South Africa, more than 11,000 people were detained, and the PAC and ANC were outlawed. Learn about employment opportunities across the UN in South Africa. The Sharpeville Massacre occurred on March 21, 1960, in the township of Sharpeville, South Africa. Some 20,000 Blacks gathered near a police station at Sharpeville, located about 30 miles (50 km) south of Johannesburg. We must listen to them, learn from them, and work with them to build a better future.. In 1960, states had no binding international human rights obligations with oversight mechanisms. The apartheid in South Africa which was in effect from 1948 until 1994 was not only a racist policy which greatly affected the quality of life of minorities in the country for the worse but was a outright crime against humanity. That day about 20,000 people gathered near the Sharpeville police station. Just after 1pm, there was an altercation between the police officer in charge and the leaders of the demonstration. Professor of International Law, Lancaster University. Its been 60 years since the Sharpeville massacre, when 69 unarmed civilians were killed by armed South African police on March 21 1960. The quest for international support, mass mobilization, armed operations, and underground organization became the basis for the ANCs Four Pillars of Struggle. Yet only three policemen were reported to have been hit by stones - and more than 200 Africans were shot down. He became South Africa's . As a result of racial segregation, resistance from coloured people in both the United States and South Africa escalated. The only Minister who showed any misgivings regarding government policy was Paul Sauer. But in the aftermath of the Sharpeville massacre, the UN adopted a more interventionist stance to the apartheid state. Stephen Wheatley explores how this tragedy paved the way for the modern United Nations, Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile. A deranged White man, David Pratt, made an assassination attempt on Dr. Verwoerd, who was seriously injured. The Sharpeville massacre was a turning point in South African history. After translating an article, all tools except font up/font down will be disabled. In particular, the African work force in the Cape went on strike for a period of two weeks and mass marches were staged in Durban. On the 60th anniversary of the Sharpeville massacre, the world should remember the contingency and fragility of the international human rights law system that we so easily take for granted today. He was tricked into dispersing the crowd and was arrested by the police later that day. But it was not until after Sharpeville that the UN made clear that the countrys system of racial segregation would no longer be tolerated. Knowing the democracy we have today was achieved in part because of the blood we sacrificed was worth it, she says. The march leaders were detained, but released on the same day with threats from the commanding officer of Caledon Square, Terry Tereblanche, that once the tense political situation improved people would be forced to carry passes again in Cape Town. The Supreme Courts decision in the famous and landmark case, Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 set a precedent for desegregation in schools. In March 1960, South African police shot dead 69 black protestors, sparking worldwide outrage . 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. The massacre was photographed by photographer Ian Berry, who initially thought the police were firing blanks. Nearly 300 police officers arrived to put an end to the peaceful protest. Just after 1pm, there was an altercation between the police officer in charge and the leaders of the demonstration. The Sharpeville massacre. Significant reshaping of international law is often the result of momentous occurrences, most notably the first and second world wars. By 9 April the death toll had risen to 83 non-White civilians and three non-White police officers. [9] The Sharpeville police were not completely unprepared for the demonstration, as they had already driven smaller groups of more militant activists away the previous night. However, the police simply took down the protesters names and did not arrest anyone. 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 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. Reddy. 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. [6]:p.534, By 10:00, a large crowd had gathered, and the atmosphere was initially peaceful and festive. All that changed following the worlds moral outrage at the killings. 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. Do you find this information helpful? 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. We hope you and your family enjoy the NEW Britannica Kids. This year, UN and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) joined South Africans in commemorating the 61st anniversary of the Sharpeville massacre, using the flagship campaign #FightRacism to promote awareness of these critical issues. This shows a major similarity as they wanted to achieve the same things. This was in direct defiance of the government's country-wide ban on public meetings and gatherings of more than ten persons. By 1960 the. . In my own research, I have looked to complexity theory a theory developed in the natural sciences to make sense of the ways that patterns of behaviour emerge and change to understand the way that international human rights law developed and evolved. The police ordered the crowd to disperse within 3 minutes. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. The incident resulted in the largest number of South African deaths (up to that point) in a protest against apartheid. This article first appeared on The Conversation, Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies. The people were throwing their hats to the aeroplanes. The movement in this period that revived the political opposition against the apartheid was the Black Consciousness Movement. 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. When protesters reconvened in defiance, the police charged at them with batons, tear gas and guns. In 1960 it was the site of one of the earliest and most violent demonstrations against apartheid. the Sharpeville Massacre On 24 March 1960, in protest of the massacre, Regional Secretary General of the PAC, Philip Kgosana, led a march of 101 people from Langa to the police headquarters in Caledon Square, Cape Town. Eyewitness accounts attest to the fact that the people were given no warning to disperse. The Afrikaner poet Ingrid Jonker mentioned the Sharpeville Massacre in her verse. These laws restricted blacks movements within the country. 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. Due to the illness, removals from Topville began in 1958. And then there are those who feel deeply involved and moved, but also powerless to deal with the enormity of the situation (Krog 221). Police officers attempted to use tear gas to repel these advances, but it proved ineffectual, and the police fell back on the use of their batons. That date now marks the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, and without the Sharpeville massacre, we may not have the international system of human rights that we have today. Lancaster University provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation UK. 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. 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. Within hours the news of the killing at Sharpeville was flashed around the world. The commission completed this task, under the chairmanship of Eleanor Roosevelt, when it finalised the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. 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. 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. Along the way small groups of people joined him. When the marchers reached Sharpeville's police station a heavy contingent of policemen were lined up outside, many on top of British-made Saracen armored cars. In 1994, Mandela signed the nations first post-apartheid constitution near the site of the 1960 massacre. Although blood was not shed on Krogs hands directly, she took on the shame of her race. One of the insights has been that international law does not change unless there is some trigger for countries to change their behaviour. Sharpeville is a township near Vereeniging, in the Gauteng province of South Africa . It was one of the first and most violent demonstrations against apartheid in South Africa. The same safe and trusted content for explorers of all ages. Furthermore, the history of the African civil rights movement validated: Nationalism has been tested in the peoples struggles . On 21 March 1960, the police opened fire on a group of demonstrators who had gathered peacefully outside Sharpeville police station in response to a nationwide call by the Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC) to protest against the hated pass system; 67 people died and hundreds more were wounded. 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. The massacre was one of the catalysts for a shift from passive resistance to armed resistance by these organisations. When police opened . In 1946, the UN established the Commission on Human Rights, whose first job was to draft a declaration on 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). The people of South Africa struggle day by day to reverse the most cruel, yet well-crafted, horrific tactic of social engineering. The concept behind apartheid emerged in 1948 when the nationalist party took over government, and the all-white government enforced racial segregation under a system of legislation . 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). In November 1961, a military branch of the party was organized with Mandela as its head. It also came to symbolize that struggle. Take a minute to check out all the enhancements! Eyewitness accounts and evidence later led to an official inquiry which attested to the fact that large number of people were shot in the back as they were fleeing the scene. Courtesy BaileySeippel Gallery/BAHA Source. Other protests around the country on 21 March 1960. 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. Under the country's National Party government, African residents in urban districts were subject to influx control measures. 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. 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. Racial and religious conflicts; conflicts between dictatorial governments and their citizens; the battle between the sexes; conflicts between management and labor; and conflicts between heterosexuals and homosexuals all stem, in whole or in part, to oppression. . The ANC and PAC were forced underground, and both parties launched military wings of their organisations in 1961. The Minister of Native Affairs declared that apartheid was a model for the world. 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. [6]:p.163, The African National Congress (ANC) prepared to initiate a campaign of protests against pass laws. Many thousands of individuals applied for the amnesty program and a couple thousand testified through the course of 2 years. 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,. As segregation and civil rights become national topics, their. The Sharpeville Massacre awakened the international community to the horrors of apartheid. By 1960, however, anti-apartheid activism reached the town. 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 convention: Nazism and antisemitism were not included. Updates? Start your Independent Premium subscription today. A black person would be of or accepted as a member of an African tribe or race, and a colored person is one that is not black or white. All blacks were required to carry ``pass books ' ' containing fingerprints, photo and information on access to non-black areas. The police and army arrested thousands of Africans, who were imprisoned with their leaders, but still the mass action raged. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Sharpeville marked a turning point in South Africa's history; the country found itself increasingly isolated in the international community. The call for a stay away on 28 March was highly successful and was the first ever national strike in the countrys history. What happened on 21 March in Sharpeville? Accessible across all of today's devices: phones, tablets, and desktops. Find out what the UN in South Africa is doing towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. This shows a significant similarity in that both time periods leaders attempted to achieve the goal of ending. This, said Mr Subukwe, would cause prisons to become overcrowded, labour to dry up and the economy to grind to a halt. This march is seen by many as a turning point in South African history. Lined up outside was a large contingent of armed police with some atop armoured cars. 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). It was adopted on 21 December 1965. But it was not until after Sharpeville that the UN made clear that the countrys system of racial segregation would no longer be tolerated. Krog was one of these Afrikaners. BlackPast.org is a 501(c)(3) non-profit and our EIN is 26-1625373. After some demonstrators, according to police, began stoning police officers and their armoured cars, the officers opened fire on them with submachine guns. In her moving poem Our Sharpeville she reflects on the atrocity through the eyes of a child. 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. This angered the officers causing them to brutally attack and tear gas the demonstrators. 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. Dr. Verwoerd praised the police for their actions. Corrections? It can be considered the beginning of the international struggle to bring an end to apartheid in South . Eyewitness accounts of the Sharpeville massacre 1960 The day of the Massacre, mourning the dead and getting over the shock of the event Baileys African History Archive (BAHA) Tom Petrus, author of 'My Life Struggle', Ravan Press. The police response to the protest became the primary cause of the massacre. The campaign slogan was "NO BAIL! 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. Following shortly, the Group Areas Act of 1950 was enacted as a new form of legislation alongside the Population Registration Act. This abuse towards people of colour in South Africa made people around the world want to protest against South Africa's government. Our work on the Sustainable Development Goals. The march was also led by Clarence Makwetu, the Secretary of the PACs New Flats branch. But change can also be prompted by seemingly minor events in global affairs, such as the Sharpeville massacre the so-called butterfly effect. Perseverance and determination are also needed to build on the lessons learnedfrom the Sharpeville tragedy and repair the injustices of the past. Furthermore, a new police station was created, from which the police were energetic to check passes, deporting illegal residents, and raiding illegal shebeens. Baileys African History. The targeted protest became infamous in the Civil Rights Movement, marked Bloody Sunday and was crucial to gaining favor of the public (civilrights.org). Across the street came 40 or so students who planned on joining the group en route to the Courthouse. [20], Sharpeville was the site selected by President Nelson Mandela for the signing into law of the Constitution of South Africa on 10 December 1996. [5], F-86 Sabre jets and Harvard Trainers approached to within 30 metres (98ft) of the ground, flying low over the crowd in an attempt to scatter it. 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. In the aftermath of the events of 21 March, mass funerals were held for the victims. 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 officers asked the demonstrators to turn around; however, they did not budge. The Black Consciousness Movement sparked mass protests among Blacks and prompted other liberation movements to demonstrate against the apartheid. Along with other PAC leaders he was charged with incitement, but while on bail he left the country and went into exile. Nelson Mandela was a member of the banned African National Congress and led an underground armed movement that opposed the apartheid by attacking government buildings in South Africa during the early 1960s. The reactions of white South Africans to the revelations of the Truth Commission can be divided into two main groups There are those who refuse point-blank to take any responsibility and are always advancing reasons why the commission should be rejected and regarded as a costly waste of money. NO DEFENCE! [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. 26 Black policemen and 365 Black civilians were injured no White police men were killed and only 60 were injured. The ANC Vice-President, Oliver Tambo, was secretly driven across the border by Ronel Segal into the then British controlled territory of Bechunaland. The protesters offered themselves up for arrest for not carrying their passes. Sharpeville Massacre, The Origin of South Africa's Human Rights Day [online], available at: africanhistory.about.com [accessed 10 March 2009]|Thloloe, J. This movement sought to overcome the subjugation the racist South African government and apartheid laws imposed on Blacks. On 1 April 1960, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 134. The South African government began arresting more nonconformists and banning resistance organizations, such as the African National Congress and the Pan African Congress. 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. Another officer interpreted this as an order and opened fire, triggering a lethal fusillade as 168 police constables followed his example. 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. Some of them remain in prison", "Sharpeville Memorial, Theunis Kruger Street, Dicksonville, Sharpville ABLEWiki", Calls for inquiry into Israels Gaza killings, Storming of the Kempton Park World Trade Centre, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sharpeville_massacre&oldid=1140778365, Killings by law enforcement officers in South Africa, Short description is different from Wikidata, Use South African English from April 2016, All Wikipedia articles written in South African English, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2023, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 21 February 2023, at 19:08. However, the governments method of controlling people who resisted the apartheid laws didnt have the same effect from the early 1970s and onward. There were also youth problems because many children joined gangs and were affiliated with crimes instead of schools. The firing lasted for approximately two minutes, leaving 69 people dead and, according to the official inquest, 180 people seriously wounded. This affirmed that the elimination of racial discrimination was a global challenge that affronted the respect and dignity of all human beings. Similarly, African American leaders from the fifties to the sixties also fought for the end of segregation, in cases such as Brown v. Board of Education. Eventually a few of the demonstrators dared to cross the street, led by James Forman who had organized the march. Other PAC members tried to stop bus drivers from going on duty and this resulted in a lack transport for Sharpeville residents who worked in Vereeniging. International sympathy lay with the African people, leading to an economic slump as international investors withdrew from South Africa and share prices on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange plummeted. [7][8], On 21 March, 1960, a group of between 5,000 and 10,000 people converged on the local police station, offering themselves up for arrest for not carrying their passbooks. A policeman was accidently pushed over and the crowd began to move forward to see what was happening. It was one of the first and most violent demonstrations against apartheid in South Africa. In the following days 77 Africans, many of whom were still in hospital, were arrested for questioning . 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. 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. The significance of the date is reflected in the fact that it now marks the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. A protest that had been scheduled three days earlier was planned for noon on Monday, May 4. Under this system there was an extended period of gruesome violence against individuals of colored skin in South Africa. The story of March 21 1960 is told by Tom Lodge, a scholar of South African politics, in his book Sharpeville. But even still, southern activists worked to defend the practice of segregation. The PAC organised demonstration attracted between 5,000 and 7,000 protesters. A week later, a breakaway group from the ANC, the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) held its first conference in Johannesburg. Omissions? In 1946, the UN established the Commission on Human Rights, whose first job was to draft a declaration on human rights. One way of accomplishing this was by instilling laws thatd force segregation, classification, educational requirements, and economic purposes. The 1960 Sharpeville Massacre was the result of a peaceful protest regarding racist South African policies of apartheid. Sixty-nine protesters died, and the massacre became an iconic moment in the struggle against apartheid. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. But change can also be prompted by seemingly minor events in global affairs such as the Sharpeville massacre the so-called butterfly effect. A posseman. Some were shot in the back as they fled.[1]. [13], A storm of international protest followed the Sharpeville shootings, including sympathetic demonstrations in many countries[14][15] and condemnation by the United Nations. [1], Victims were buried en masse in a ceremony performed by clergy. 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. Reports of the incident helped focus international criticism on South Africas apartheid policy. 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. Fewer than 20 police officers were present in the station at the start of the protest. a photographer whose pictures of the killings caused an . Police were temporarily paralyzed with indecision. Robert Sobukwe and other leaders were arrested and detained after the Sharpeville massacre, some for nearly three years after the incident. 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.