Abstract

Being an international organization, the United Nations has played an outstanding role in facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights and maintenance of world peace. The pursuit of human rights has been remained a focus point in the objectives of the UN. The atrocities of the World War II and genocide, highlighted the need that the new organization must work to prevent any similar tragedies, which would be expected in the future, So on the basis of early objectives, the UN has created legal framework for considering and acting on complaints about human rights violations. The UN has succeeded to promote peace as well as to ensure human rights at global level. The UN ensuring human rights and peace through a special mechanism, peace-keeping missions and forces, state to state contact and through its observers. The apartheid in South Africa is one of the most painful examples of the human rights violation in which majority of black inhabitants were curtailed extremely based on racial segregation. The apartheid was developed after World War II by the Afrikaner-dominated National Party, and the UN stimulated this issue immediately at its first gathering in 1946, placing South Africa on the agenda. The UN successfully resolved the issue of human rights violations in South Africa, but ultimately it take very long time to eradicate apartheid from South Africa and after forty years, South Africa was able to conduct fare and free elections with cooperation of the UN and other international communities

Keywords: South Africa; Apartheid; UN