2026: South Africa’s Year of Human Rights Anniversaries

06 June 1966: Senator Robert F. Kennedy’s Day of Affirmation Speech

16 June 1976: Soweto Youth Uprising 

09 August 1956: Women’s March Against the Pass Laws

This year will mark three significant anniversaries in recent South African history.

In June 1966, the National Union of South African Students (NUSAS) invited the late US Senator Robert F. Kennedy to deliver the keynote Ripple of Hope speech for the annual NUSAS Day of Affirmation event.

Ten years earlier in 1956 on Thursday, the 9^th of August, the Women's March was led by four women: Lillian Ngoyi, Helen Joseph, Rahima Moosa and Sophia Williams to protest against the proposed amendments to the Apartheid Group Areas Act of 1950, commonly referred to as Pass Laws . 

The organisers had collected 14,000 signatures which more than 20,000 South Africans of all racial backgrounds staged a march on the Union Buildings in Pretoria to present to the then Prime Minister J. G. Strijdom. 

In June 1976, Black South African high school students in Soweto protested against the Afrikaans Medium Decree of 1974 demanding all black schools to use Afrikaans and English in equal terms as languages of instruction.

The protests resulted in the deaths of protesting youth, including twelve year-old Hector Pieterson. seen carried by Mbuyisa Makhubo after being shot by the South African Police. Pieterson was rushed to a local clinic, where he was declared dead on arrival. 

Sam Nzima's photo showing Pieterson's sister, Antoinette Sithole, running beside them, became an icon of the Soweto Youth Uprising.

All three anniversaries are Human Rights-related; they are also significant events in South Africa's history during the difficult Apartheid era, and which contributed in no small measure in helping to dismantle the system.

Articles 1, 2, 3 and 13.1 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) are particularly relevant to these events.

The UDHR is based on the principles of dignity, equality, and inalienability of human rights.

1	Born Free & Equal  All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
2	Freedom From Discrimination  Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.
3	The Right to Life  Everyone has the right to life, liberty and the security of person.
13	Freedom of Movement  1. Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each State.