In Soweto, South Africa, thousands of black school children took to the streets in 1976, in a march more than half a mile long, to protest against the inferior quality of their education and to demand their right to be taught in their own language. Hundreds of young boys and girls were shot down; and in the two weeks of protest that followed, more than a hundred people were killed and more than a thousand were injured. To honour the memory of those killed and the courage of all those who marched, the Day of the African Child has been celebrated on 16 June every year since 1991, when it was first initiated by the Organisation of African Unity. The Day also draws attention to the lives of African children today. This year’s theme is ‘Protecting children from violence’. This day has also become an opportunity to examine progress towards health, education, equality and security for all African children and on the implementation of the regional African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, which entered into force in November 1999, is the first regional treaty on the human rights of children. The Charter complements the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, taking into account social and cultural values of Africa and offering protection against violations of children’s rights. Its implementation is supervised by the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. Today in Soweto Today in Soweto, President Thabo Mbeki has led a march along the route taken by the students who protested in 1976. Wreaths were laid at a memorial to those students who were killed when police opened fire on the crowd in the township. The commemorations have centred on the Hector Peterson memorial, named after the first and youngest student to die. He was caught on camera as he died in the arms of a fellow student, in a photograph that became iconic in the struggle against white minority rule in South Africa. His mother Dorothy Molefi and President Mbeki were among those to lay wreaths at the memorial. Red paving stones symbolising spilled blood were laid along the route the protesters took. The march will end in Johannesburg's FNB stadium, where Mr Mbeki will give a keynote speech. The Soweto uprising and the riots that spread to other township are seen as a milestone in the growth of the movement against apartheid. The government said that 95 black people had been killed, but unofficial estimates put the number of dead closer to 500. At the time, Winnie Mandela, the wife of then-imprisoned ANC leader Nelson Mandela, described the protests as "just the beginning". Domestic and international pressure eventually lead to the release of Mr Mandela in 1990 and the country's first non-racial elections four years later. Mr Mandela was overwhelmingly elected to become South Africa's first black president. [Sources: African Union, BBC] Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=8403&flag=event Further information Information for children
pdf: http://www.africa-union.org/child/home.htm
Day of the African Child 2006
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Link :
http://www.africa-union.org/child/home.htm
Countries
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