For the purpose of the present Convention, the term 'the crime of apartheid', which shall include similar policies and practices of racial segregation

Racial segregation

Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...

 and discrimination as practiced in southern Africa

Southern Africa

Southern Africa is the southernmost region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. Within the region are numerous territories, including the Republic of South Africa ; nowadays, the simpler term South Africa is generally reserved for the country in English.-UN...

, shall apply to the following inhumane acts committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group of persons over any other racial group of persons and systematically oppressing them:

1. Denial to a member or members of a racial group or groups of the right to life
   Right to life
   Right to life is a phrase that describes the belief that a human being has an essential right to live, particularly that a human being has the right not to be killed by another human being...
   
    and liberty
   Liberty
   Liberty is a moral and political principle, or Right, that identifies the condition in which human beings are able to govern themselves, to behave according to their own free will, and take responsibility for their actions...
   
    of person
   
   
   
   1. By murder of members of a racial group or groups;
   
   
   2. By the infliction upon the members of a racial group or groups of serious bodily
      Bodily harm
      Bodily harm is a legal term of art used in the definition of both statutory and common law offences in Australia, Canada, England and Wales and other common law jurisdictions. It is a synonym for injury or bodily injury and similar expressions, though it may be used with a precise and limited...
      
       or mental harm
      Psychological trauma
      Psychological trauma is a type of damage to the psyche that occurs as a result of a traumatic event...
      
      , by the infringement of their freedom or dignity, or by subjecting them to torture
      Torture
      Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
      
       or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;
   
   
   3. By arbitrary arrest and illegal imprisonment of the members of a racial group or groups;
   
   


2. Deliberate imposition on a racial group or groups of living conditions calculated to cause its or their physical destruction in whole or in part;


3. Any legislative measures and other measures calculated to prevent a racial group or groups from participation in the political, social, economic and cultural life of the country and the deliberate creation of conditions preventing the full development of such a group or groups, in particular by denying to members of a racial group or groups basic human rights and freedoms, including the right to work
   Right to work
   The right to work is the concept that people have a human right to work, or engage in productive employment, and may not be prevented from doing so...
   
   , the right to form recognised trade unions, the right to education, the right to leave
   Illegal emigration
   Illegal emigration refers to a person moving across national borders in a way that violates emigration laws. Such a person may legally go abroad and refuse to return when demanded by the country of origin....
   
    and to return
   Right of return
   The term right of return refers to a principle of international law, codified in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, giving any person the right to return to, and re-enter, his or her country of origin...
   
    to their country, the right to a nationality
   Nationality law
   Nationality law is the branch of law concerned with the questions of nationality and citizenship, and how these statuses are acquired, transmitted, or lost. By custom, a state has the right to determine who its nationals and citizens are. Such determinations are usually made by custom, statutory...
   
   , the right to freedom of movement
   Freedom of movement
   Freedom of movement, mobility rights or the right to travel is a human right concept that the constitutions of numerous states respect...
   
    and residence, the right to freedom of opinion and expression, and the right to freedom of peaceful assembly
   Freedom of assembly
   Freedom of assembly, sometimes used interchangeably with the freedom of association, is the individual right to come together and collectively express, promote, pursue and defend common interests...
   
    and association
   Freedom of association
   Freedom of association is the individual right to come together with other individuals and collectively express, promote, pursue and defend common interests....
   
   ;


4. Any measures including legislative measures, designed to divide the population along racial lines by the creation of separate reserves and ghetto
   Ghetto
   A ghetto is a section of a city predominantly occupied by a group who live there, especially because of social, economic, or legal issues.The term was originally used in Venice to describe the area where Jews were compelled to live. The term now refers to an overcrowded urban area often associated...
   
   s for the members of a racial group or groups, the prohibition of mixed marriage
   Interracial marriage
   Interracial marriage occurs when two people of differing racial groups marry. This is a form of exogamy and can be seen in the broader context of miscegenation .-Legality of interracial marriage:In the Western world certain jurisdictions have had regulations...
   
   s among members of various racial groups, the expropriation
   Nationalization
   Nationalisation, also spelled nationalization, is the process of taking an industry or assets into government ownership by a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to private assets, but may also mean assets owned by lower levels of government, such as municipalities, being...
   
    of landed property belonging to a racial group or groups or to members thereof;


5. Exploitation of the labour of the members of a racial group or groups, in particular by submitting them to forced labour;


6. Persecution
   Persecution
   Persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or group by another group. The most common forms are religious persecution, ethnic persecution, and political persecution, though there is naturally some overlap between these terms. The inflicting of suffering, harassment, isolation,...
   
    of organizations and persons, by depriving them of fundamental rights and freedoms, because they oppose apartheid.

Definition of racial discrimination

According to the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination

The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination is a United Nations convention. A second-generation human rights instrument, the Convention commits its members to the elimination of racial discrimination and the promotion of understanding among all races...

,

the term "racial discrimination" shall mean any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent

Cultural heritage

Cultural heritage is the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society that are inherited from past generations, maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future generations...

, or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights

Human rights

Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...

 and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life.

This definition does not make any difference between discrimination based on ethnicity and race, in part because the distinction between the two remains debatable among anthropologists

Anthropology

Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...

. Similarly, in British law the phrase racial group means "any group of people who are defined by reference to their race, colour, nationality (including citizenship) or ethnic or national origin".

ICC definition of the crime of apartheid

Article 7 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court

Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court

The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court is the treaty that established the International Criminal Court . It was adopted at a diplomatic conference in Rome on 17 July 1998 and it entered into force on 1 July 2002. As of 13 October 2011, 119 states are party to the statute...

 defines crimes against humanity as:

Article 7
Crimes against humanity

1. For the purpose of this Statute, 'crime against humanity' means any of the following acts when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack:
   
   
   
   1. Murder;
   
   
   2. Extermination;
   
   
   3. Enslavement;
   
   
   4. Deportation or forcible transfer of population;
   
   
   5. Imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law;
   
   
   6. Torture
      Torture
      Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
      
      ;
   
   
   7. Rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity;
   
   
   8. Persecution against any identifiable group or collectivity on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious, gender as defined in paragraph 3, or other grounds that are universally recognized as impermissible under international law, in connection with any act referred to in this paragraph or any crime within the jurisdiction of the Court;
   
   
   9. Enforced disappearance of persons;
   
   
   10. The crime of apartheid;
   
   
   11. Other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health.

Later in Article 7, the crime of apartheid is defined as:

The 'crime of apartheid' means inhumane acts of a character similar to those referred to in paragraph 1, committed in the context of an institutionalised regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any other racial group or groups and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime.

Allegations against Israel

Activists for Palestinian rights have accused Israel of committing the crime of apartheid. For example, in 2006, at the UN-sponsored International Conference of Civil Society in Support of the Palestinian People, Phyllis Bennis, co-chair of the International Coordinating Network on Palestine alleged that "Once again, the crime of apartheid [is] being committed by a United Nations Member State [Israel]." Zahir Kolliah has written that "In South Africa and in Palestine the indigenous populations live under apartheid regimes 'settler colonies' as described by the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid". Hazeem Jamjoum states in a 2009 article that "In terms of law, describing Israel as an apartheid state does not revolve around levels of difference and similarity with the policies and practices of the South African Apartheid regime" because apartheid is a universal crime under international law.

Such accusations have recently been picked up in documents of the United Nations. In a 2007 report, United Nations Special Rapporteur for Palestine John Dugard stated that "elements of the Israeli occupation constitute forms of colonialism and of apartheid, which are contrary to international law" and suggested that the "legal consequences of a prolonged occupation with features of colonialism and apartheid" be put to the International Court of Justice

International Court of Justice

The International Court of Justice is the primary judicial organ of the United Nations. It is based in the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands...

. South Africa's statutory research agency the Human Sciences Research Council

Human Sciences Research Council (South Africa)

The Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa primarily conducts large-scale, policy-relevant, social-scientific projects for public-sector users, non governmental organisations and international development agencies in support of development nationally, in the Southern African Development...

 (HSRC) stated in a 2009 report that "the State of Israel exercises control in the [Occupied Palestinian Territories] with the purpose of maintaining a system of domination by Jews over Palestinians and that this system constitutes a breach of the prohibition of apartheid." Based on these findings, Richard Falk, the successor of John Dugard as UN Special Rapporteur for Palestine has detailed some of the indicators of apartheid in the occupied territories :

• preferential citizenship, visitation and residence laws and practices that prevent Palestinians who reside in the West Bank or Gaza from reclaiming their property or from acquiring Israeli citizenship, as contrasted to a Jewish right of return that entitles Jews anywhere in the world with no prior tie to Israel to visit, reside and become Israeli citizens;
• differential laws in the West Bank and East Jerusalem favouring Jewish settlers who are subject to Israeli civilian law and constitutional protection, as opposed to Palestinian residents, who are governed by military administration;
• dual and discriminatory arrangements for movement in the West Bank and to and from Jerusalem; discriminatory policies on land ownership, tenure and use; extensive burdening of Palestinian movement, including checkpoints applying differential limitations on Palestinians and on Israeli settlers, and onerous permit and identification requirements imposed only on Palestinians;
• punitive house demolitions, expulsions and restrictions on entry and exit from all three parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

The Special Rapporteur concludes that this "general structure of apartheid that exists in the Occupied Palestinian Territories ... makes the allegation increasingly credible despite the differences between the specific characteristics of South African apartheid and that of the Occupied Palestinian Territories regime".

South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

n Judge Richard Goldstone

Richard Goldstone

Richard Joseph Goldstone is a South African former judge. After working for 17 years as a commercial lawyer, he was appointed by the South African government to serve on the Transvaal Supreme Court from 1980 to 1989 and the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of South Africa from 1990 to 1994...

, writing in The New York Times

The New York Times

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

 in October 2011, said that "in Israel, there is no apartheid. Nothing there comes close to the definition of apartheid under the 1998 Rome Statute." Goldstone noted that Arab citizens of Israel

Arab citizens of Israel

Arab citizens of Israel refers to citizens of Israel who are not Jewish, and whose cultural and linguistic heritage or ethnic identity is Arab....

 are allowed to vote, have political parties, and hold seats in the Knesset

Knesset

The Knesset is the unicameral legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Role in Israeli Government :The legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister , approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government...

 and other positions, including one on the Israeli Supreme Court

Supreme Court of Israel

The Supreme Court is at the head of the court system and highest judicial instance in Israel. The Supreme Court sits in Jerusalem.The area of its jurisdiction is all of Israel and the Israeli-occupied territories. A ruling of the Supreme Court is binding upon every court, other than the Supreme...

. Goldstone wrote that the situation in the West Bank was more complex, but that there is no attempt to maintain "an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group", and claimed that the seemingly oppressive measures taken by Israel were taken to protect its own citizens from attacks by Palestinian militants.

Israeli journalist Yonatan Silverman wrote in Ynetnews

Ynetnews

Ynetnews is the online English language Israeli news website of Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel’s most-read newspaper, and the Hebrew Israel news portal, Ynet...

that while inequality and injustice existed in the West Bank, Israel was not an apartheid state. Silverman wrote that while South Africa was a legally segretated society, Israel's actions in the West Bank are not rooted in legislation and stem from security concerns rather than racial bias.

See also

• Racial segregation
  Racial segregation
  Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...
  
  
• Israel and the apartheid analogy
• Human rights in Myanmar
  Human rights in Myanmar
  Members of the United Nations and major international human rights organisations have issued repeated and consistent reports of widespread and systematic human rights violations in Burma...
  
  
• Human rights in North Korea
  Human rights in North Korea
  The human rights record of North Korea is extremely hard to fully assess due to the secretive and closed nature of the country. The North Korean government makes it very difficult for foreigners to enter the country and strictly monitors their activities when they do...
  
  
• Human rights in Saudi Arabia
  Human rights in Saudi Arabia
  Human rights in Saudi Arabia are intended to be based on Islamic religious laws under rule of the Saudi royal family. The government of Saudi Arabia, and the Saudi legal system, has been criticized for its treatment of religious and political minorities, homosexuals, apostates, and women...
  
  
• Human rights in South Africa
  Human rights in South Africa
  Human rights in South Africa are protected under the constitution. The 2009 Human Rights Report by the United States Department of State noted that the government generally respected the rights of the citizens, however there were concerns over the use of force by law enforcement, legal proceedings...
  
  
• Human rights in Sudan
  Human rights in Sudan
  Some human rights organizations have documented a variety of abuses and atrocities carried out by the Sudanese government over the past several years...
  
   – events here led to the secession of South Sudan
  South Sudan
  South Sudan , officially the Republic of South Sudan, is a landlocked country located in the Sahel region of northeastern Africa. It is also part of the North Africa UN sub-region. Its current capital is Juba, which is also its largest city; the capital city is planned to be moved to the more...
  
  
• Human rights in Zimbabwe
  Human rights in Zimbabwe
  There are widespread reports of systematic and escalating violations of human rights in Zimbabwe under the Mugabe administration and his party, ZANU-PF....
  
  
• Nazi Germany
  Nazi Germany
  Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
  
  
• White Australia Policy
  White Australia policy
  The White Australia policy comprises various historical policies that intentionally restricted "non-white" immigration to Australia. From origins at Federation in 1901, the polices were progressively dismantled between 1949-1973....
  
  

External links

• Human Sciences Research Council: Occupation, Colonialism, Apartheid? A re-assessment of Israel’s practices in the occupied Palestinian territories under international law. Cape Town 2009
• Richard Falk:Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, Report to the UN General Assembly, 30.August 2010, sec. 5
• Human Rights Watch Report: Separate and Unequal. Israel’s Discriminatory Treatment of Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, December 19 2010