In 1966, the United Nations General Assembly declared 21st of March as International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Celebrated annually, and meant to remind countries of their collective responsibility in the fight against all forms of discrimination, this day’s observation owes its existence to the 1960 Sharpeville Massacre in which 69 people who were part of a peaceful demonstration against “pass laws’’ were brutally murdered by the South African apartheid regime. At that time, indigenous black Africans were legally required to carry dompas identity documents and to produce them whenever required to do so by the South African police. There were dire consequences for those who failed to produce such documents and many ended up in jail. In 1960, people of the township of Sharpeville participated in a peaceful march against ‘pass laws’ but were fired upon by the police. In South Africa, 21 March is celebrated as Human Rights day and is a public holiday.
More than 50 years after the Sharpeville Massacre, human rights activists and peaceful demonstrators still go through unimaginable suffering at the hands of those in authority. The ongoing killing of innocent civilians and peaceful demonstrators in Yemen, Bahran, and Libya are but a few examples that remind us that in some parts of the world people who dare question their governments still risks a similar fate to that of Sharpeville residents. As the world celebrates International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination thousands of people pursuing the struggle against elimination of all forms of discrimination, intolerance and other injustices are either behind bars, in exile or await dire consequences including death. Human Rights Watch reports on the state of human rights practises around the world paints a disturbing picture. What is further worrying though is the lacklustre approach that leaders and international bodies seem to adopt when occasions arise for them to show leadership and harshly condemn human rights violations. The 2011 Human Rights Watch’s report note that “in place of a commitment to exerting public pressure for human rights, they (governments that can be counted on to be on the side of human rights activists) profess a preference for softer approaches such as private “dialogue” and “cooperation”. The report goes further to list recent examples of soft approaches and these include “ASEAN’s tepid response to Burmese repression, the United Nations’ deferential attitude toward Sri Lankan atrocities, the European Union’s obsequious approach to Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, the soft Western reaction to certain favored repressive African leaders such as Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia, the weak United States policy toward Saudi Arabia, India’s pliant posture toward Burma and Sri Lanka, and the near-universal cowardice in confronting China’s deepening crackdown on basic liberties. In all of these cases, governments, by abandoning public pressure, effectively close their eyes to repression”.
Months back, the world welcomed the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma’s pro-democracy leader from almost 20 years of house arrest by Burma’s military government yet Chinese writer, human rights activist and Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo is still behind bars. Liu Xiaobo, the only winner of the Nobel Peace Prize still in detention was sentenced to eleven years in prison by the Chinese government after co-authoring ‘Charter 08’, a manifesto that is robustly calling for democratic rights for the people of the People’s Republic of China. There is currently an ongoing campaign against his ongoing imprisonment. The campaign consists of more than 70 organisations including PEN South Africa’s Writers in Prison Committee and Poetry International South Africa. The question is, what are we doing as individuals when faced with situations of injustices? This year’s celebration should therefore challenge us to be more tolerant of those that differ from us and less tolerant of repressive governments and people in our lives who show disregard of the rights of others. Martin Luther King Jnr once said “our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter”. He further maintained that “the ultimate treasure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience but where he stands at times of controversy”. In deed these wise words remain relevant even today and challenge all good men and women not to close their ears and deliberately block the loud cries of help from those around them.
