what caused the sharpeville massacre

In the aftermath of the events of 21 March, mass funerals were held for the victims. The movement in this period that revived the political opposition against the apartheid was the Black Consciousness Movement. 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. Corrections? However, the governments method of controlling people who resisted the apartheid laws didnt have the same effect from the early 1970s and onward. The massacre was photographed by photographer Ian Berry, who initially thought the police were firing blanks. 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. 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. 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. In 1946, the UN established the Commission on Human Rights, whose first job was to draft a declaration on human rights. [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. [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 police response to the protest became the primary cause of the massacre. Black citizens began to resist this prejudice though and also used violence against the enforcers of Apartheid. In Pretoria a small group of six people presented themselves at the Hercules police station. Do you find this information helpful? Kgosana agreed to disperse the protestors in if a meeting with J B Vorster, then Minister of Justice, could be secured. This angered the officers causing them to brutally attack and tear gas the demonstrators. On the 21st of March 1960, black residents of Sharpeville took to the police station to protest against the use of the dompas in South Africa. A deranged White man, David Pratt, made an assassination attempt on Dr. Verwoerd, who was seriously injured. The PAC organised demonstration attracted between 5,000 and 7,000 protesters. [13], A storm of international protest followed the Sharpeville shootings, including sympathetic demonstrations in many countries[14][15] and condemnation by the United Nations. 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. Pass laws intended to control and direct their movement and employment were updated in the 1950s. Sharpeville Massacre, The Origin of South Africa's Human Rights Day [online], available at: africanhistory.about.com [accessed 10 March 2009]|Thloloe, J. The police assembled and used disproportionate responses to the protest. Half a century has passed but memories of the Sharpeville massacre still run deep. However, Foreign Consulates were flooded with requests for emigration, and fearful White South Africans armed themselves. After apartheid ended, President Nelson Mandela chose Sharpeville as the place to sign South Africas new constitution on December 10, 1996. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. There were also youth problems because many children joined gangs and were affiliated with crimes instead of schools. I will argue that the massacre created a major short-term crisis for the apartheid state, a crisis which appeared to 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. All that changed following the worlds moral outrage at the killings. 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. And then there are those who feel deeply involved and moved, but also powerless to deal with the enormity of the situation (Krog 221). The call for a stay away on 28 March was highly successful and was the first ever national strike in the countrys history. Although blood was not shed on Krogs hands directly, she took on the shame of her race. The police shot many in the back as they turned to flee, causing some to be paralyzed. Across the street came 40 or so students who planned on joining the group en route to the Courthouse. Professor of International Law, Lancaster University. Even so and estimated 2000 to 3000 people gathered on the Commons. Police were temporarily paralyzed with indecision. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Race, ethnicity and political groups, is an example of this. The Sharpeville Massacre awakened the international community to the horrors of apartheid. Non-compliance with the race laws were dealt with harshly. [16], The Sharpeville massacre contributed to the banning of the PAC and ANC as illegal organisations. 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]. A new, third level of content, designed specially to meet the advanced needs of the sophisticated scholar. 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). This was in direct defiance of the government's country-wide ban on public meetings and gatherings of more than ten persons. 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. The ANC and PAC were forced underground, and both parties launched military wings of their organisations in 1961. 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. What event happened on March 21 1960? 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. The police were armed with firearms, including Sten submachine guns and LeeEnfield rifles. After translating an article, all tools except font up/font down will be disabled. 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. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Many of the contemporary issues in South Africa can easily be associated with the apartheid laws which devastated the country. 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. As the small crowd approached the station, most of the marchers, including Sobukwe, were arrested and charged with sedition. In March 1960, South African police shot dead 69 black protestors, sparking worldwide outrage . The Sharpeville massacre also touched off three decades of protest in South Africa, ultimately leading to freedom for Nelson Mandela, who had spent 27 years in prison. 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. NO DEFENCE! 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. It had wide ramifications and a significant impact. The quest for international support, mass mobilization, armed operations, and underground organization became the basis for the ANCs Four Pillars of Struggle. Expert Answers. UNESCO marks 21 March as the yearly International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, in memory of the massacre. Police arrested more than 11,000 people and kept them in jail. 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. All the evidence points to the gathering being peaceful and good-humoured. 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. At this conference, it was announced that the PAC would launch its own anti-pass campaign. 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). The event also played a role in South Africa's departure from the Commonwealth of Nations in 1961. But it was not until after Sharpeville that the UN made clear that the countrys system of racial segregation would no longer be tolerated. At this point the National Guard chose to disperse the crowd, fearing that the situation might get out of hand and grow into another violent protest. 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. Choose a language from the menu above to view a computer-translated version of this page. 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 United Nations Security Council and governments worldwide condemned the police action and the apartheid policies that prompted this violent assault. 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. [21], In 1998, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) found that the police actions constituted "gross human rights violations in that excessive force was unnecessarily used to stop a gathering of unarmed people. In 1946, the UN established the Commission on Human Rights, whose first job was to draft a declaration on human rights. The South African government began arresting more nonconformists and banning resistance organizations, such as the African National Congress and the Pan African Congress. On 20 March Nana Mahomo and Peter Molotsi has crossed the border into Bechuanaland to mobilize support for the PAC. In November 1961, a military branch of the party was organized with Mandela as its head. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Other evidence given to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission "the evidence of Commission deponents reveals a degree of deliberation in the decision to open fire at Sharpeville and indicates that the shooting was more than the result of inexperienced and frightened police officers losing their nerve. Police witnesses claimed that stones were thrown, and in a panicked and rash reaction, the officers opened fire on the crowd. 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. 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. This shows a major similarity as they wanted to achieve the same things. The Sharpeville massacre was a turning point in South African history. Britannica does not review the converted text. This article first appeared on The Conversation, Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies. 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. Reports of the incident helped focus international criticism on South Africas apartheid policy. Ingrid de Kok was a child living on a mining compound near Johannesburg where her father worked at the time of the Sharpeville massacre. The enforcement of Pass Laws and the reissue of laws that restricted the. The police also have said that the crowd was armed with 'ferocious weapons', which littered the compound after they fled. 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. Over five thousand individuals came to protest the cause in Sharpeville. The protesters offered themselves up for arrest for not carrying their passes. Sharpeville was first built in 1943 to replace Topville, a nearby township that suffered overcrowding where illnesses like pneumonia were widespread. 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 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 moral outrage surrounding these events led the United Nations General Assembly to pronounce 21 March as the International Day for the Elimination of Racial . This translates as shot or shoot. The victims included about 50 women and children. To read more witness accounts of the Sharpeville Massacre, click on the 'Witness accounts' tab above. 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. Some were shot in the back as they fled.[1]. They were mild campaigns at first, but as the government became more hostile, so did ANC protests. Sharpeville massacre, (March 21, 1960), incident in the Black township of Sharpeville, near Vereeniging, South Africa, in which police fired on a crowd of Black people, killing or wounding some 250 of them. and [proved to be] the only antidote against foreign rule and modern imperialism (Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom 2008, 156) . All blacks were required to carry ``pass books ' ' containing fingerprints, photo and information on access to non-black areas. 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. 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. Unfortunately, police forces arrived and open fired on the protesters, killing ninety-six in what became known as the Sharpeville massacre.