According to government, human rights are rights that everyone should have simply because they are human.
In 1948, ironically the same year that the Nationalist Party came to power in South Africa and formalised segregation, the United Nations defined 30 articles of human rights in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It established universal human rights on the basis of humanity, freedom, justice, and peace.
Human Rights Day is celebrated annually across the world on 10 December every year.
The date was chosen to honour the United Nations General Assembly's adoption and proclamation, on 10 December 1948, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the first global enunciation of human rights and one of the first major achievements of the new United Nations.
Since 1995, Human Rights Day has been a public holiday celebrated in South Africa. It shares the day with the anniversary of the infamous Sharpeville Massacre, which occurred in 1960. This gross violation of human life happened when a march by ordinary South Africans protesting the Pass Laws turned into a police-led bloodbath. The day marked a turning point for the future of South Africa and the struggle for liberation, which intensified in its wake.
South Africa has included indivisible human rights in our own Bill of Rights, Chapter 2 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996.
The articles of our Constitution can only be changed by a two-thirds majority in Parliament, which means it is difficult for anyone, including the government, to take away the basic rights of a citizen.
The Bill of Rights preserved in our Constitution is the cornerstone of our constitutional and representative democracy. The Constitution as our supreme law means that no laws may be passed that goes against it. The Bill of Rights also comprehensively addresses South Africa’s history of oppression, colonialism, slavery, racism and sexism and other forms of human violations. The Bill of Rights embeds the rights of all people in our country in an enduring affirmation of the democratic values of human dignity, equality and freedom.
The 30 Human Rights
| Article 1 | Right to Equality |
| Article 2 | Freedom from Discrimination |
| Article 3 | Right to Life, Liberty, Personal Security |
| Article 4 | Freedom from Slavery |
| Article 5 | Freedom from Torture and Degrading Treatment |
| Article 6 | Right to Recognition as a Person before the Law |
| Article 7 | Right to Equality before the Law |
| Article 8 | Right to Remedy by Competent Tribunal |
| Article 9 | Freedom from Arbitrary Arrest and Exile |
| Article 10 | Right to Fair Public Hearing |
| Article 11 | Right to be Considered Innocent until Proven Guilty |
| Article 12 | Freedom from Interference with Privacy, Family, Home and Correspondence |
| Article 13 | Right to Free Movement in and out of the Country |
| Article 14 | Right to Asylum in other Countries from Persecution |
| Article 15 | Right to a Nationality and the Freedom to Change It |
| Article 16 | Right to Marriage and Family |
| Article 17 | Right to Own Property |
| Article 18 | Freedom of Belief and Religion |
| Article 19 | Freedom of Opinion and Information |
| Article 20 | Right of Peaceful Assembly and Association |
| Article 21 | Right to Participate in Government and in Free Elections |
| Article 22 | Right to Social Security |
| Article 23 | Right to Desirable Work and to Join Trade Unions |
| Article 24 | Right to Rest and Leisure |
| Article 25 | Right to Adequate Living Standard |
| Article 26 | Right to Education |
| Article 27 | Right to Participate in the Cultural Life of Community |
| Article 28 | Right to a Social Order that Articulates this Document |
| Article 29 | Community Duties Essential to Free and Full Development |
| Article 30 | Freedom from State or Personal Interference in the above Rights |
