Human Rights Day in South Africa
Human Rights Day in South Africa is held on March 21. This event in the third decade of the month March is annual. Help us
Human Rights Day in South Africa is historically linked with 21 March 1960, and the events of Sharpeville. On that day 69 people died and 180 were wounded when police fired on a peaceful crowd that had gathered in protest against the Pass laws. The anniversary of the Sharpeville Massacre is remembered the world over every March 21 on the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
This day marked an affirmation by ordinary people, rising in unison to proclaim their rights. It became an iconic date in country’s history that today we commemorate as Human Rights Day as a reminder of rights and the cost paid for treasured human rights.
Human Rights Day is observed by the international community every year on 10 December. It commemorates the day in 1948 the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Similar holidays and events, festivals and interesting facts
Family Day in South Africa on April 1 (day after Easter Sunday);
Founders Day in South Africa on April 6 (The holiday was established on 6 April 1952 during the Van Riebeeck Festival in honour of the 300th anniversary of the arrival of the Dutch in South Africa);
Freedom Day in South Africa on April 27 (UnFreedom Day - unofficial);
Mother’s Day on May 12 (Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bonaire, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei, Canada, Cambodia, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Congo, Dem. Rep., Congo, Rep., Cote d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Curaçao, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominica, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Faroe Islands, Fiji, Finland, Germany, Gabon, Gambia, Greenland, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guyana, Honduras, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Latvia, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Macau, Malaysia, Malta, Myanmar, Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Singapore, Sint Maarten, Slovakia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United States, Uruguay, Vietnam, Venezuela, Zambia, Zimbabwe)