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Cicero and the Greek essayist Plutarch. Such ideas, however, did not gain a permanent place in the political structure of the Roman Empire and all but disappeared during medieval times. 5

The catalyst for the transformation of human rights to that which we know today were the revolutions of England, France and the United States. These revolutions stressed libertarian ideals, which became ingrained into those societies. The growth of human rights in Great Britain was tightly interwoven into the fabric of British society through its legal system, parliament and eventual democracy. British colonists then spread this notion of limited government and individual freedom to its vast empire – and the New World was born.

The human rights of citizens of the United States are incorporated in the Bill of Rights and also in state constitutions. They form the first ten amendments to the Bill of Rights. The First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech, press, assembly, and religious exercise as well as separation of church and state. The Fourth Amendment protects the privacy and security of the home and personal effects and prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures. The Fifth through Eighth amendments protect persons accused of crime; they guarantee, for example, the right to trial by jury, the right to confront hostile witnesses and to have legal counsel, and the privilege of not testifying against oneself. The Fifth Amendment also contains the general guarantee that no one shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. 6

As we can see from the UN Declaration on Human Rights and the US Bill of Rights, human rights violations may take a n umber of forms. Perhaps one of the most notorious examples of modern day human rights abuse was that perpetrated by South Africa’s ‘apartheid’ (Afrikaans word for ‘apartness’). Apartheid refers to the social and political policy of racial segregation and discrimination enforced by white minority governments in South Africa from 1948 to 1994.

The word ‘apartheid’ was used as the National Party’s political slogan in the 1940s but the policy of “separate development” extends back to the beginning of white settlement in South Africa in 1652. When the Afrikaan Nationalists came to power in 1948, the social custom of apartheid became institutionalized under South African law. The 1950 Population Registration

5 "Civil Rights and Civil Liberties," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2003 http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2003 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

6 Adapted from Cornell University Law Department website.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.billofrights.html (cited October 13th, 2003).

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Act categorized all South Africans into three racial categories: Bantu (black African), white or Colored (if mixed race); with a fourth category, Asian, added later mainly for Indians and Pakistanis. The system of apartheid was developed by a series of laws in the 1950s. The 1950 Group Areas Act allotted races to different residential and business sections in cities. The Land Acts of 1954 and 1955 restricted nonwhite residence to specific areas and limited ownership of land. 7 Laws even prohibited most social contact between the races, created separate education systems, segregated public facilities, created race-specific job categories, restricted the power of employment unions and limited nonwhite involvement in government. 8 The creation of 10 Bantu ‘homelands’ by the Bantu Authorities Act of 1951 and the Bantu Homelands Citizen Act of 1970 completed the removal of any power to black South Africans.

In the same way that revolution paved the way for human rights in Britain, France and the United States, so too did opposition to apartheid do the same in South Afri ca. The Afrikaan government was at times brutal in its suppression of uprisings but nonetheless some black political groups (sometimes supported by sympathetic whites) achieved varying success in chipping away at apartheid through measures such as violence, strikes, demonstrations and sabotage. 9

The international community also began to place pressure on the South African government to abolish apartheid. South Africa was forced to withdraw from the British Commonwealth in 1961 by member states that abhorred the system. In 1961, the United Nations condemned apartheid recommending its members to break relations with South Africa 10 and the following year UN Security Council voted for a partial arms ban on South Africa. In 1985, the British and American governments imposed economic sanctions.

As a result of the tremendous internal and external pressure, the South African government led by President F.W. de Klerk began dismantling the apartheid system in the 1990s. The National Party had a reformed government specifically dedicated to reform and black

7 White South Africans owned over 80% of land in South Africa. Source:

http://www.africanaencyclopedia.com/apartheid/apartheid.html 8 Source: http://www.africanaencyclopedia.com/apartheid/apartheid.html 9 Source: http://www.africanaencyclopedia.com/apartheid/apartheid.html 10 South Africa Timeline. University of South Dakota. http://www.usd.edu/honors/HWB/hwb_c/jen.htm (cited October 13th, 2003).

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political organizations were given back their power. 11 In 1994, the country’s constitution was rewritten 12 with particular attention given to equal human rights 13 and the first democratic election elected the first black leader, Nelson Mandela. Although teething problems were inevitable and tensions still occasionally persist 14 , South Africa has been quick to highlight its success to the outside world in dealing with its human rights issues. 15 Focus on international human rights issues have since shifted geographically further north in Africa (Rwanda) and Yugoslavia and are now facing different challenges to that posed by South Africa.

Thus it would seem that Martin Luther King Jr. was right: human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable and every step toward the goal of justice does require sacrifice, suffering, and struggle. It is a shame that today the so-called developed world appears to be using its power to hide human rights atrocities when clear codes of standards are available (and indeed were often drawn up by the violating countries!). There is, however, room for considerable optimism because history shows that, if a change for the good is needed, the international community and revolution from within can be very powerful forces.

11 Imprisoned black leaders, such as Nelson Mandela, were released.

12 See http://www.polity.org.za/html/govdocs/constitution/saconst.html?rebookmark=1 13 Chapter 2: Bill of Rights. See http://www.polity.org.za/html/govdocs/constitution/saconst02.html?rebookmark=1 14 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3189397.stm 15 The multicultural faces of the winning South African team in the 1995 Rugby World Cup made international headlines as a symbol of the new post-apartheid South Africa.