African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights enters...

Angola declares independence from Portugal

11 November 1975

Angola’s independence followed armed anticolonial struggle and the end of Portuguese rule. African liberation movements linked sovereignty to resistance against colonial extraction; the ensuing...

Soweto students rise against apartheid education policy

16 June 1976

Students protested the imposition of Afrikaans in Black schools and the broader apartheid education system. Police violence and mass resistance turned Soweto into a global symbol of youth-led...

UNESCO adopts the Declaration on Race and Racial Prejudice

27 November 1978

The declaration rejected claims that race determined intellectual or moral capacity and condemned racial discrimination. It challenged pseudoscientific ideas that had justified slavery, colonialism,...

African states adopt the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights

27 June 1981

Adopted in Nairobi, the Charter recognized civil, political, economic, social, and peoples’ rights and expressly prohibited slavery in Article 5. Its language placed human dignity and collective...

Second World Conference to Combat Racism opens in Geneva

1 August 1983

The Geneva conference reviewed international efforts against racism and racial discrimination, including the persistence of apartheid and colonial legacies. Its debates showed that formal bans on...

👉 African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights enters into force Current

21 October 1986

After the required ratifications, the Charter became binding for its parties. Article 5 prohibits slavery, the slave trade, torture, and degrading treatment. The instrument gave regional legal force...

Brazil promulgates a constitution recognizing quilombo land rights

5 October 1989

Article 68 of the Constitution’s Transitional Provisions recognizes definitive land ownership for descendants of quilombo communities who occupy their lands. This constitutional claim linked...

South Africa holds its first democratic election under universal suffrage

27 April 1994

The election ended apartheid’s system of racially restricted political participation and brought the African National Congress to power. It followed a long liberation struggle and marked a decisive...

States adopt the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court

17 July 1998

The Rome Statute listed enslavement among crimes against humanity when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack on civilians. The instrument created a basis for individual criminal...

Haiti holds an early observance of the Slave Trade Remembrance Day

23 August 1998

Haiti was among the first places to mark the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition. The observance centered the Haitian Revolution’s place in Atlantic history...

Gorée Island in Senegal commemorates the slave trade and its abolition

23 August 1999

Gorée Island held an early observance of the remembrance day. The site’s memorial meaning has been debated by historians; its public commemoration nonetheless illustrates how African communities and...

African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights enters into force

People in this event

African states parties

Organizations in this Event

Organization of African Unity

African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights

Related Events

Which event is dated 1986-10-21?

After the required ratifications, the Charter became binding for its parties. Article 5 prohibits slavery, the slave trade, torture, and degrading treatment. The instrument gave regional legal force to protections developed through postcolonial African diplomacy.