African Activist Archive

Damu Smith's statement to the press on behalf of the Washington Office on Africa expresses support for the resolution introduced by Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) and other Senators "calling for the immediate release of all the children detained under the state of emergency regulations in South Africa." Forty percent of the 25,000 persons detained under the state of emergency imposed June 12, 1986 are children between the ages of 10 and 18; of the 8,000 persons detained under the 1985 state of emergency, 2,000 were under 16, and the youngest was a seven-year-old child. In 1985, an eight-year-old was charged with "intimidation" and refused bail. According to the Weekly Mail, the South African government has admitted that, in 1986, 58,962 children were held in police cells awaiting trial. Evidence documented and compiled by respected human rights organizations in South Africa such as the Detainees Parents Support Committee (DPSC) and the Black Sash, as well as the International Commission of Jurists, shows that most children being detained are subjected to severe, brutal and sadistic forms of physical and psychological torture and abuse. One can only conclude that Pretoria's racist rulers are engaged in a special war against Black children, which extends even beyond South Africa's borders to illegally occupied Namibia as well as Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, and other countries in the region. A recent UNICEF report found that the region of southern Africa has the highest child mortality rate in the world. We urge the 100th Congress to pass the comprehensive sanctions bill, H.R. 1580/S. 556, introduced by Congressman Ronald Dellums (D-CA) and Senator Alan Cranston (D-CA), mandating a total trade embargo and disinvestment by U.S. corporations from South Africa. Such action would build and expand upon the sanctions now in effect under the Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986 passed last October. We also urge President Ronald Reagan to publicly call upon the Botha regime to release South Africa's children and all political detainees, and demand that South Africa immediately dismantle apartheid without conditions.

African Activist Archive

SOUTH AFRICA’S WAR AGAINST CHILDREN UNDERSCORES NEED FOR COMPREHENSIVE SANCTIONS AGAINST PRETORIA

A STATEMENT BY MR. DAMU SMITH, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WASHINGTON OFFICE ON AFRICA

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