Stephen Biko’s death became a symbol for the debate at the United Nations on expanding the global fight against torture. His stature as a well-known civil society activist, the brutality of the murder and the apartheid regime’s attempted cover-up meant ...
Yes, the resolution condemned the South African regime for the deaths of detainees, police brutality, torture and violence against peaceful demonstrators that defined the apartheid. However, it did this through repeated mentions of Biko.
The resolution concluded with the following paragraph where the General Assembly: “expresses its conviction that the martyrdom of Stephen Biko and all other nationalists murdered in South African prisons and the ideals for which they fought will continue to enrich the faith of the peoples of southern Africa and other parts of the world in their struggle against apartheid and for racial equality and the dignity of the human person”.
The Biko resolution came out of a rich General Assembly debate where attention had also been paid to a “” and where medical ethics for doctors in the context of torture had also been raised — two issues that were also critical for the Biko case .. The first of these resolutions finally secured the backing for the United Nations to begin drafting an international convention against torture. A decision on this had been one of the major human rights battles at the UN during the 1970s.
The 1977 decision also helped facilitate a change in the UN’s approach to human rights violations from a more selective approach — where it was only politically possible to focus on a limited number of violating countries — to a more universal approach that focused on violations where they happened. This was a major change — also backed by parallel work on enforced disappearances — and the significance of this should not be underestimated.
Malaysia Latest News, Malaysia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
State of the country is not what Biko died for: Vavi - SABC News - Breaking news, special reports, world, business, sport coverage of all South African current events. Africa's news leader.South African Federation of Trade Unions(SAFTU) general secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi believes that slain anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko would be disappointed in the state of South Africa at the moment. He highlighted that the high cost of living and the levels of corruption in the country, were not the ideals Biko stood for. Vavi believes South …
Read more »
SNAPS | Inside Nomzamo Mbatha’s luxury Italian vacation'Time out with the most beautiful humans.'
Read more »
SA has no way of blacklisting deadbeat dads | CitypressSA has no way of blacklisting deadbeat dads: Lamola said the gaps in the current legislation prevented the department from implementing the sections of the act where it could refer maintenance defaulters to credit bureaus
Read more »
LETTER: Pass a law to govern coalitionsOur coalitions need to be formalised; a law has to be passed that governs coalitions.
Read more »
PATRICE RASSOU: The shrinking JSE and keeping up with the KardashiansGlobal companies sniffing around SA bourses for potential acquisition targets is becoming a trend
Read more »