The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is observed annually on the day the police in Sharpeville, South Africa, opened fire and killed 69 people at a peaceful demonstration against
apartheid “pass laws” in 1960.In 2023, the focus is on the urgency of combatting racism and racial discrimination, 75 years after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – the first time the international community agreed on a set of common values and acknowledged that rights are inherent to every single human being and not granted by the State.