When Mr Mandela addressed the Assembly in October 1994, he was welcomed as a hero. History unfolded as he took his place on the podium in the white leather chair reserved for heads of state and government. Cheers erupted as he approached the podium. A collective standing ovation rose in the Assembly Hall.
In fact, the year before, the lawyer and civil rights leader had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his costly battle to end apartheid, a system of legalized segregation, modeled on the American Jim Crow racial laws for blacks, that was strictly enforced by the white government of South Africa from 1948 to 1994.
It took Mandela, along with countless brave South Africans and tens of millions of protesting supporters worldwide, 46 years to overthrow that racist system and the regime that upheld it. That included spending 27 years on Robben Island for speaking out against apartheid.
But it was not the first time that Mandela had stood before the iconic marble podium in the General Assembly Hall of the UN headquarters in New York.
He first addressed a UN audience on June 8, 1990 – shortly after his release from prison – in a speech to the UN’s International Labour Organization (I LO) as Vice-President of the African National Congress (ANC).
“Despite the thickness of the prison walls, all of us on Robben Island and other prisons could hear your voices very clearly demanding our release,” Mr Mandela said.
“We have drawn inspiration from this. We thank you for not growing weary in your struggle. We thank you for your humanity and your commitment to justice, which led you to reject the idea that we should be imprisoned and that our people should be enslaved,” he said.
UN Photo/Ariana Lindquist
Unveiling ceremony of the statue of Nelson Mandela, a gift from South Africa, at the UN headquarters in 2018. (file)
When the iconic leader died in December 2013 at the age of 95, the President of the General Assembly encouraged the UN to honour Mr. Mandela “by keeping his legacy alive” in the world body’s ongoing fight against poverty, injustice and the destruction of the human person and spirit.
“Let us not forget that we too can be like him, because we too can choose the better path, can choose to work for causes that are bigger and better than our narrow interests,” John Ashe said at a special meeting convened at UN headquarters to allow member states to pay tribute to the former South African leader.
The Assembly President urged UN representatives to remember that “we too must work together to reduce hunger and injustice, to build lasting peace and sustainable development, to end genocide and to combat hatred.”
Just as Mandela drew inspiration from his followers during his imprisonment, the world has been similarly inspired by his legacy. Hundreds of thousands of activities are planned to commemorate his life on this international day.
Listen to a 2010 report by UN Radio’s Ben Malor, reflecting on the struggle against apartheid and the campaign for Mandela’s release, in which the UN played a key role:
UN News shows epic moments from the history of the UN, emerging from the UN Audiovisual Library‘s 49,400 hours of video and 18,000 hours of audio recordings.
Watch the UN videos Stories from the UN Archives playlist here and our associated series here.
Come back next week for a dive into history.
