Racial Discrimination as a Crime against Humanity

Abstract

Abstract Nazi racists were convicted and punished at Nuremberg for the persecution of minorities under the charge of crimes against humanity. The definition was narrow in order to shelter those who created the Tribunal from liability for their own racist acts and policies. In the 1960s, under the impetus of African States, the General Assembly broadened the definition of crimes against humanity in order to encompass racial discrimination committed in peacetime. This progressive development of international criminal law was confirmed in the 1968 treaty on statutory limitation and the 1973 Convention against apartheid, despite opposition from States of the Global North. The 1973 Convention recognized universal jurisdiction and called for establishment of a permanent international criminal court. The Rome Statute, adopted in 1998, confirmed that racial discrimination and apartheid are crimes against humanity. United Nations organs also considered whether apartheid policies could fall within the scope of genocide.