Public Seminar Series
Wednesday, 25 November 2026, 5pm to 6pm
About this talk
Apartheid is defined in international law as a crime against humanity, but it also cuts across a number of areas of international law beyond international criminal law, to include international human rights law, international humanitarian law, and international refugee law. The crime against humanity of apartheid is defined in two treaties: the Apartheid Convention (1973) and the ICC Statute (1998). While these treaties largely converge in the way they define the crime of apartheid as a system, their scope and substance differ.
Scholars disagree on the meaning to be attributed to its core provisions: What is a racial group? What does domination mean? What is systematic oppression? What is the status of the crime in customary international law? How have states parties to these treaties sought to give effect to their obligations to prosecute the crime in their domestic legal systems? What are the challenges of applying the crime of apartheid to situations beyond South Africa or, for example, invoking it as a ground for individuals claiming asylum owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race or nationality under the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol? In this presentation, Dr Kattan will seek to answer these questions by providing a brief overview of the preliminary findings of his OUP monograph on apartheid as a crime against humanity.
About the speaker
Dr. Victor Kattan is Assistant Professor in Public International Law at the University of Nottingham School of Law where he is the deputy director of the Nottingham International Law and Security Centre. From 2026-2027, he will be the Smuts Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge where he is completing his Oxford University Press monograph on apartheid as a crime against humanity. His previous works include: From Coexistence to Conquest: International Law and the Origins of the Arab-Israeli Conflict 1891-1949 (Pluto Press, 2009); Making Endless War: The Vietnam and Arab-Israeli Conflicts in the History of International Law (Michigan University Press, 2023, with Brian Cuddy); and The Breakup of India and Palestine: The Causes and Legacies of Partition (Manchester University Press, 2023, with Amit Ranjan).
The seminar will be followed by drinks in the Hall.
Registration not required.
Term: Michaelmas, Week 7
Series: Refugee Studies Centre Events
Venue:
Queen Elizabeth House - Seminar Room 1
Seminar Room 1 Queen Elizabeth House 4 Mansfield Road Oxford Oxfordshire OX1 3TB United Kingdom
Department: International Development (Department)
Host: Refugee Studies Centre