Human Rights Day

Each year, Human Rights Day is commemorated on 21 March. The day is historically linked with the Sharpeville events, which occurred on 21 March 1960. The date has become iconic in South African history as a reminder of every person’s precious rights and the struggles that were endured, and the sacrifices that were made to ensure that every person is guaranteed basic human rights.

What Human Rights Day Represents

In 2023, the theme that was chosen for this important historical day is “Consolidating and Sustaining Human Rights Culture into the Future”.

Apart from being a national public holiday, this historically important day also serves to remind the country of the struggles and sacrifices that were made to entrench our inalienable human rights that are codified in the Constitution, Chapter 2.

This year, President Cyril Ramaphosa is set to deliver a keynote address at a special event on Human Rights Day. The commemorative event will be held in De Aar, in the Northern Cape Province, on 21 March 2023. De Aar has been selected as the site for this year’s keynote address as part of the government’s rotation of national days that is aimed at ensuring that communities across the various provinces are able to feel represented and be part of such occasions.

At Legal Interact, we truly believe in the importance of upholding human rights for all and the promotion of access to justice throughout our entire business.

We hope that everyone feels represented on this commemorative day, that those who have been lost in the struggle are honoured and that we continue to uphold the rights that were fought hard to obtain.

Let’s leave you with something to reflect on today and every day:
“To deny people of their human rights is to challenge their very humanity” – Nelson Mandela