The crime of apartheid

In order to keep Israel a "Jewish" state, racist policies amounting to apartheid have been used against Palestinians.

In the occupied Palestinian Territories, a "matrix of control has been put into place that curbs Palestinians' most basic human rights"

South Africa, 1948.

After winning the elections, the National Party turned the racial segregation policies put in place under Dutch and British colonial rule, into something a lot more sophisticated and Machiavellian. The government classified all peoples in three separate races. White, coloured and blacks. Each race had its rights and limitations. The white minority controlled the much larger black majority .

This system of domination and separation became known as "apartheid".

Through a combination of non-violent and armed struggle, international pressure and boycott, the system was brought to an end in 1990 (when ban on the African National Congress and other political parties was lifted) and Nelson Mandela was elected president of the country in 1994, after an overwhelming victory of its party, the ANC in the universal elections.

In the early 70s, many countries opposed to the regime, decided that something of a legal nature was needed to put even more pressure on the South African government. The International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid (ICSPCA) was ratified by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in 1973.

Al Jazeera