Apartheid as a Crime Against Humanity: A Submission to the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission

This submission made to the TRC by the Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Law Clinic, the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, and twenty-one international law professors regarding apartheid as a crime against humanity (reproduced below) grew out of the debate within South Africa concerning apartheid, crimes against humanity, genocide, and Nazism. This submission is an authoritative statement by experts in international law concerning the legal status of apartheid and was drafted in part to clarify the relevant issues for a legal evaluation of apartheid-not only within the TRC, but also in broader South African and international society. The submission argues that apartheid does qualify as a crime against humanity under international law, even though it may not qualify as genocide, and even though there may be important differences between the policies of apartheid and Nazism