apartheid
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S: UNRIC – http://www.unric.org/en/nelson-mandela-day/26991-un-and-apartheid-from-1946-to-mandela-day- (last access: 12 December 2014); BBC – http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-25249520 (last access: 12 December 2014).

N: 1. apartheid (n): 1947 (policy begun 1948), from Afrikaans apartheid (1929 in a South African socio-political context), literally “separateness,” from Dutch apart “separate” (from French àpart) + suffix -heid.
“Segregation” is such an active word that it suggests someone is trying to segregate someone else. So the word “apartheid” was introduced. Now it has such a stench in the nostrils of the world, they are referring to “autogenous development.” (Alan Paton, “New York Times,” Oct. 24, 1960).
2. Apartheid is defined as both a government system that systematizes racial discrimination throughout society, as well as a system that isolates the victim group from the general society in ghettos or “bantulands” (the term used in South Africa).
3. 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 (here in after Apartheid Convention, ICSPCA) has it roots to the discriminatory racial policies of the South African Government – known as apartheid . Apartheid was annually condemned by the General Assembly. This Convention declares that apartheid is a crime against humanity and that “inhuman acts resulting from the policies and practices of apartheid and similar policies and practices of racial segregation and discrimination” are international crimes (art. 1).
4. This definition includes 6 categories of crimes:

  • Massive violation of human rights and civil rights.
  • Imposition of inhumane living conditions, such as poverty.
  • Society-wide legalized discrimination in areas such as finance, housing, employment, education, as well as access to cultural events, etc.
  • Isolating the victim group geographically, such as in ghettoes, or “Bhantulands” (term used in South Africa).
  • Exploitation of labor, such as slavery or forced labor or discrimination in wages.
  • Inhumane suppression of rebellion against apartheid.

5. This term is defined by the 2002 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court as inhumane acts of a character similar to othercrimes 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.”
6. There are many examples of apartheid throughout the history, but one of the most well-known is the one which took place in South Africa. Apartheid was the system of racial discrimination and separation that governed South Africa from 1948 until its abolition in the early 1990s after decades of strikes, sanctions and increasingly violent demonstrations. Finally, in 1991, under President F.W. de Klerk, the Nobel Peace Prize of 1993, the South African government repealed all remaining apartheid laws and committed to writing a new constitution. Moreover, he was the first president of the Rainbow Nation who maintained first talks with Nelson Mandela. Nelson Mandela was a political activist and leadership of the anti-apartheid party African National Congress (ANC) who spent 27 years in prison and he was award winner in 1993 of the Nobel Peace Prize, too. Thus, in 1994, the first elections after the apartheid were celebrated. The ANC won and Mandela started his mandate.
7. Cultural Interrelation: We can mention in order to illustrate this term that there is a film called Invictus (2009) directed by Clint Eastwood. The film tells the inspiring true story of Nelson Mandela, the South Africa’s newly elected president, uniting the post-apartheid nation – because he knows his nation remains racially and economically divided – as it prepares to host the 1995 Rugby World Cup.

S: 1. OED – http://www.etymonline.com/ (last access: 12 December 2014). 2. IRLC – http://www.israellawresourcecenter.org/internationallaw/studyguides/sgil1i.htm (last access: 12 December 2014). 3, 4 & 5. OLA – http://legal.un.org/avl/ha/cspca/cspca.html (last access: 12 December 2014); Princetonedu – https://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Crime_of_apartheid.html (last access: 12 December 2014). 6. HISTORY – http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/un-condemns-apartheid (last access: 12 December 2014); CWEP – http://www.crimesofwar.org/a-z-guide/apartheid/ (last access: 12 December 2014). 7. The Guardian – http://www.theguardian.com/invictus-the-movie/movie-preview (last access: 12 December 2014); FCB.

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CR: racial discrimination, racial segregation, racism.