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Crime of apartheid
Crime of apartheid
International opposition
to Apartheid in South Africa Campaigns Academic boycott · Sporting boycott Disinvestment ·Constructive engagement Instruments and legislation UN Resolution 1761 (1962) Crime of Apartheid Convention (1973) Gleneagles Agreement (1977) Sullivan Principles (1977) Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act (1986) Organisations Anti-Apartheid Movement UN Special Committee against Apartheid Artists United Against Apartheid Halt All Racist Tours Organisation of African Unity Conferences 1964 Conference for Economic Sanctions 1978 World Conference against Racism United Nations Security Council Resolutions Resolution 181 · Resolution 191 Resolution 282 · Resolution 418 Resolution 435 · Resolution 591 Other aspects Elimination of Racism Day Biko (song) · Activists Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute Equity television programming ban
On 30 November 1973, the United Nations General Assembly opened for signature and ratification the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid (ICSPCA)[2] It defined the crime of apartheid as "inhuman 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."
History
The term apartheid, from Afrikaans for "apartness," was the official name of the South African system of racial segregation which existed after 1948. Complaints about the system were brought to the United Nations as early as 12 July 1948 when Dr. Padmanabha Pillai, the representative of India to the United Nations, circulated a letter to the Secretary-General expressing his concerns over treatment of ethnic Indians within the Union of South Africa.[3] As it became more widely known, South African apartheid was condemned internationally as unjust and racist and many decided that a formal legal framework was needed in order to apply international pressure on the South African government. In 1971, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Guinea together submitted early drafts of a convention to deal with the suppression and punishment of apartheid.[4] In 1973, the General Assembly of the United Nations agreed on the text of the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid (ICSPCA).[2] The Convention has 31 signatories and 107 parties. "As such, apartheid was declared to be a crime against humanity, with a scope that went far beyond South Africa. While the crime of apartheid is most often associated with the racist policies of South Africa after 1948, the term more generally refers to racially based policies in any state."[5] Seventy-six other countries subsequently signed on, but a number of nations have
The crime of apartheid is defined by the 2002 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court which established the crime of apartheid as inhumane acts of a character similar to other crimes against humanity "committed in the context of an institutionalized 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." It lists such crimes as murder, enslavement, deprivation of physical liberty, forced relocation, sexual violence, and collective persecution.[1]
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neither signed nor ratified the ICSPCA, including Canada, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States.[6] In explanation of the US vote against the convention, Ambassador Clarence Clyde Ferguson Jr. said: "[W]e cannot...accept that apartheid can in this manner be made a crime against humanity. Crimes against humanity are so grave in nature that they must be meticulously elaborated and strictly construed under existing international law..."[7]
Crime of apartheid
International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid, Article II[2] For the purpose of the present Convention, the term ’the crime of apartheid’, which shall include similar policies and practices of racial segregation and discrimination as practiced in southern Africa, shall apply to the following inhuman 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 and liberty 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 or mental harm, by the infringement of their freedom or dignity, or by subjecting them to torture 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, the right to form recognised trade unions, the right to education, the right to leave and to return to their country, the right to a nationality,
Signatories to the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid: parties in dark green, signed but not ratified in light green, nonmembers in grey The International Criminal Court provides for individual criminal responsibility for crimes against humanity,[8] including the crime of apartheid.[9] The International Criminal Court (ICC) came into being on 1 July 2002, and can only prosecute crimes committed on or after that date. The Court can generally only exercise jurisdiction in cases where the accused is a national of a state party, the alleged crime took place on the territory of a state party, or a situation is referred to the Court by the United Nations Security Council. As of July 2008, 106 countries are states parties (with Suriname and Cook Islands set to join in October 2008), and a further 40 countries have signed but not yet ratified the treaty.[10] However, many of the world’s most populous nations, including China, India, the United States, Indonesia, and Pakistan are not parties to the Court and therefore are not subject to its jurisdiction, except by Security Council referral.
ICSPCA definition of the crime of apartheid
Article II of the ICSPCA defines the crime of apartheid as follows:
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the right to freedom of movement and residence, the right to freedom of opinion and expression, and the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association; 4. Any measures including legislative measures, designed to divide the population along racial lines by the creation of separate reserves and ghettos for the members of a racial group or groups, the prohibition of mixed marriages among members of various racial groups, the expropriation 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 of organizations and persons, by depriving them of fundamental rights and freedoms, because they oppose apartheid.
Crime of apartheid
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.[11] 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.[11]
ICC definition of the crime of apartheid
Article 7 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court 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;
See also
• Racial segregation • Israel and the apartheid analogy
References
[1] United Nations (2002). "Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Part 2, Article 5". http://www.un.org/law/icc/ statute/99_corr/2.htm#art.5. Retrieved on 21 July 2007. [2] ^ United Nations (30 November 2006). "International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the
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Crime of Apartheid". http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/ 11.htm. Retrieved on 8 October 2006. Pillai, Padmanabha (12 July 1948). "Letter from the representative of India to the Secretary-General concerning the treatment of Indians in South Africa". http://www.anc.org.za/un/ undocs1a.html#2. Retrieved on 17 July 2006. Olav Stokke and Carl Widstrand, ed (1973). Southern Africa Vol. 1: United Nations-Organization of African Unity Conference Oslo 9-14 April 1973. Scandinavian Institute of African Studies. Morton, Jeffrey S. (2000). The International Law Commission of the United Nations. University of South Carolina Press. pp. 27. ISBN 1570031703. [1] Statement by Ambassador Clarence Clyde Ferguson Jr. before General Assembly in explanation of vote on
Crime of apartheid
Apartheid Convention, 30 November 1973. Review of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights: Hearings before the Subcommittee on International Organizations and Movements of the House Foreign Affairs Committee (1974) p.58 [8] Encyclopædia Britannica, "Nonstate actors in international law". Retrieved on 12 June 2006. [9] Article 7 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court specifically lists the "crime of apartheid" as one of eleven recognized crimes against humanity. [10] United Nations. Multilateral treaties deposited with the Secretary-General: Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Accessed 16 July 2007. [11] ^ United Nations (2002). "Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Part 2, Article 7". http://www.un.org/law/icc/ statute/99_corr/2.htm#art.7. Retrieved on 21 July 2007.
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Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_of_apartheid" Categories: Racial segregation, Human rights instruments, International criminal law, International opposition to apartheid in South Africa, Crimes against humanity, Apartheid This page was last modified on 14 May 2009, at 12:46 (UTC). All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details.) Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a U.S. registered 501(c)(3) taxdeductible nonprofit charity. Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers
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