Religious segregation

Religious segregation involves the separation of people on the basis of religion.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Religious segregation runs deep in the country’s society mainly since the 90’s Yugoslav Wars in general and Bosnian War in particular.

From education to sports, from municipalities to cantons and entities, from language policy to regional flags and coat of arms, the strict and sometimes unpeaceful separation between Muslim Bosniaks, Orthodox Serbs and Roman Catholic Croats is present in most of BiH’s territory.

Jonathan Steele of The Guardian has argued that Bosnia and Herzegovina is "a dependent, stifled, apartheid regime". In his view, the U.N. control of Bosnia under the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, which he described as "UN-sanctioned liberal imperialism", creates "dependency, stifles civil society, and produces a highly visible financial apartheid in which an international salariat lords it over a war-wounded and jobless local population."

India

Hindu society is divided into several thousands of caste and sub-caste. In the Indian caste system, a Dalit, often called an untouchable, or an outcaste, is a person who according to traditional Hindu belief does not have any "varnas". In the context of traditional Hindu society, Dalit status has often been historically associated with occupations regarded as ritually impure, such as any occupation involving killing, handling of animal cadavers or night soil (human feces). As a result, Dalits were commonly banned and segregated from full participation in Hindu social life (they could not enter the premises of a temple), while elaborate precautions were observed to prevent incidental contact between Dalits and other Hindus.. Although generally identified with Hinduism, the caste system was also observed among followers of other religions in the Indian subcontinent, including some groups of Muslims and Christians. The Indian Constitution has outlawed caste-based discrimination, in keeping with the socialist, secular, democratic principles that founded the nation.. Caste barriers have mostly broken down in large cities, though persist in rural areas of the country. The caste system, in various forms, does continue to play a major role in the Indian society and politics.With the prominence of Hindu reform movements in the 19th century, as well as the rising political power of Dalits in Independent India, Constitutional Laws have been passed banning the practice of segregation of Dalits, and affirmative action has been implemented to equalize the historical imbalance and underrepresentation of Dalits in society.

Northern Ireland

Main article: Segregation in Northern Ireland

Many Irish nationalists and republicans have described Northern Ireland as being a gerrymandered or even apartheid state, on the grounds that it was created to ensure a built-in Protestant majority, resulting in discrimination against Catholics in government, education, housing and employment. One legacy of this has been that most state schools in Northern Ireland are predominantly Protestant while the majority of Catholic children attend schools maintained by the Catholic Church, although there are now also a number of integrated schools. This has often exacerbated religious, political and cultural differences between the two communities.

Between 1921 and 1972, Northern Ireland was governed by the Parliament of Northern Ireland, which was Protestant-dominated, while at local government level, electoral boundaries were devised to create Protestant majorities. The outbreak of the Troubles led to the imposition of direct rule by the British government, which has since sought to introduce power sharing between unionists and nationalists.

See also

• Blood money laws
• Caste
• Devşirme system
• Dhimmi laws
• Ghetto
• Jim Crow laws
• Jizyah tax
• Judenhut
• Mellah
• Ottoman Millet system
• Minority religion
• Nuremberg laws
• Racial segregation
• Religious stratification
• Second-class citizen
• Yellow badge
• Afghanistan,
• Iran,
• Malaysia,
• Mauritania,
• Pakistan,
• Saudi Arabia,
• Sudan.

External links

• Dhimmi.Com: Victims of Muslim Religious Apartheid
• religious apartheid in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
• Allegations of apartheid
• Directory of the Saudi Institute gives testimony to US House of Representatives on religious apartheid in Saudi Arabia