Redefining Apartheid in the Crimes Against Humanity Treaty: Towards a More Inclusive Framework
Location:
Online and in-person
Teaching Room 01,
Old College
Date/time
Wed 13 May 2026
15:00 - 16:30
Presented by the Global Justice Academy and the Al-Waleed Centre.
Speaker: Professor Lisa Davis (Professor of Law, and Co-Director of the Human Rights and Gender Justice Clinic, Cuny Law School. Special Advisor on Gender and Other Discriminatory Crimes to the ICC.
Chair: Dr Nora Jaber, Lecturer in Law in the Globalised Muslim World, Unviersity of Edinburgh Law School.
As States prepare their submissions to the UN Secretary-General on the draft Crimes Against Humanity treaty ahead of the April 30 deadline, they face a pivotal choice: retain an outdated definition of apartheid or adopt a modern, more inclusive one that better reflects the lived realities of victims. This event will discuss a newly proposed definition of apartheid, developed through dialogues with activists and survivors from South Africa, Palestine, Namibia, and Afghanistan. It highlights critical gaps in accountability within existing legal frameworks, particularly their failure to capture intersectional discrimination. Arguing that apartheid is not merely a crime of the past but an ongoing and evolving system of oppression, this event will explore how the definitions advanced at this moment will shape the capacity of international law to address contemporary forms of injustice.