Palestine V Israel and the Collective Obligation to Condemn Apartheid Under Article 3 of ICERD
By Dr David Keane
10 May 2023
In his article on the collective obligation to condemn Apartheid, Dr David Keane, member of our Irish Racial Justice Forum, considers this obligation in the context of the Palestinian State.
Extract:
"Under art 3 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination (‘ICERD’), states parties particularly condemn racial segregation and apartheid
and undertake to prevent, prohibit and eradicate all practices of this nature in territories under
their jurisdiction. The provision is central to Palestine’s inter-state communication against Israel
under arts 11–13 of ICERD, in which it is argued that Israel’s policies and practices in the
occupied Palestinian territories constitute apartheid. Importantly, Palestine invokes two
obligations inherent in art 3 — the individual obligation of Israel to prevent, prohibit and eradicate all practices of this nature, and the collective obligation of all states parties to ICERD to condemn such practices by not recognising as lawful the illegal situation, or rendering aid or assistance in its maintenance. "
