A separation barrier or separation wall is a barrier, wall or fence, constructed to limit the movement of people across a certain line or border, or to separate peoples or cultures."The fence along the Mexican-U.S. border is just one of many barriers proposed or constructed around the world to keep people and cultures separated. Learn more about them below." A separation barrier that runs along an internationally recognized border is known as a border barrier.
David Henley opines in The Guardian that separation barriers are being built at a record-rate around the world along borders and do not only surround dictatorships or pariah states. In 2014, The Washington Post listed notable 14 separation walls as of 2011, indicating that the total concurrent number of walls and barriers which separate countries and territories is 45.
The term "separation barrier" has been applied to structures erected in Belfast, Homs, the West Bank, São Paulo, Cyprus, and along the Greece-Turkey border and the Mexico-United States border. In 2016, Julia Sonnevend listed in her book Stories Without Borders: The Berlin Wall and the Making of a Global Iconic Event the concurrent separation barriers of Sharm el-Sheikh (Egypt), Limbang border (Brunei), the Kazakh-Uzbekistan barrier, Indian border fence with Bangladesh, United States separation barrier with Mexico, Saudi Arabian border fence with Iraq and Hungary's fence with Serbia. Several erected separation barriers are no longer active or in place, including the Berlin Wall, the Maginot Line and some barrier sections in Jerusalem.David Henley, Walls: an illusion of security from Berlin to the West Bank, The Guardian, November 19, 2013.
Structures described as "separation barriers" or "separation walls" Australia
One of the longest separation barriers in the world, the dingo fence is a pest-exclusion fence to keep dingoes out of the relatively fertile south-east part of the continent. In addition, it was initially established so that landowners could lawfully keep Australian Aboriginal people off the land.
Although the fence has helped reduce losses of sheep to predators, this has been countered by holes in fences found in the 1990s through which dingo offspring have passed. Laws were appointed to protect the fence; jail terms of three months for leaving a crossing gate open, and six months for damage or removal of part of the fence. Introduced in 1946, these penalties still apply today.
In 2009 as part of the Q150 celebrations, the dingo fence was announced as one of the Q150 Icons of Queensland for its role as an iconic "innovation and invention". The fence staff consists of 23 employees, including two-person teams that patrol a section of the fence twice every week.
Central Europe
Communities in the Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia have long built Roma walls in urban environments when a Roma group is in close proximity to the rest of the population.
Cyprus
Since the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, Turkey has constructed and maintained what economics professor Rongxing Guo has called a "separation barrier" of along the 1974 Green Line (or ceasefire line) dividing the island of Cyprus into two parts, with a United Nations buffer zone between them.Rongxing Guo, Territorial Disputes and Resource Management: A Global Handbook, Nova Publishers, 2006, p 91, , 9781600214455
Egypt Egypt-Gaza barrier
The Egypt–Gaza barrier is often referred as "separation barrier" in the media or as a "separating wall". In December 2009, Egypt started the construction of the Egypt–Gaza barrier along the border with Gaza, consisting of a steel wall. Egypt's foreign minister said that the wall, being built along the country's border with the Gaza Strip will defend it "against threats to national security". Though the construction paused a number of times, the wall is nearly complete.
Sharm el-Sheikh barrier According to Julia Sonnevend, the anti-terrorist barrier around the Sharm el-Sheikh resort in Egypt is in fact a separation barrier.Julia Sonnevend. Stories Without Borders: The Berlin Wall and the Making of a Global Iconic Event. Oxford University Press. 2016.
India
The Line of Control (LoC) refers to the military control line between the Indian and Pakistani controlled parts of the former princely state of Kashmir and Jammu—a line which, to this day, does not constitute a legally recognized international boundary, but is the de facto border. Originally known as the Cease-fire Line, it was redesignated as the "Line of Control" following the Simla Agreement, which was signed on 3 July 1972. The part of the former princely state that is under Indian control is administered as the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. The two parts of the former princely state that are under Pakistani control are known as Gilgit–Baltistan and Azad Kashmir (AJK). Its northernmost point is known as the NJ9842. This territorial division, which to this day still exists, severed many villages and separated family members from each other.Ranjan Kumar Singh, Sarhad: Zero Mile, (Hindi), Parijat Prakashan,
A separation fence construction between Indian and Pakistani controlled areas, based on 1972 cease-fire line, was initiated by India in 2003."It is a fence, meant to keep at bay infiltrators from Pakistan who are seeking to separate India's portion of Kashmir from India." In December 2013, it was revealed that India plans a construction of a separation wall in the Himalayan area in Kashmir. The wall is aimed to cover 179 km.
The other sections of India's borders also have a fence or wall.
Israel
Israel began building the Israeli West Bank barrier in 2002, in order to protect civilians from Palestinian resistance such as suicide bombing attacks which increased significantly during the Second Intifada. Barrier opponents claim it seeks to annex Palestinian land under the guise of security and undermines peace negotiations by unilaterally establishing new borders. When completed it will be a 700-kilometres long network of high walls, electronic fences, gates and trenches. It is a controversial barrier, because much of it is built outside the 1949 Armistice Line (Green Line), de facto annexing potentially 10 percent of Palestinian land, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. It cuts far into the West Bank and encompasses Israel's largest settlement blocs containing hundreds of thousands of settlers.
In June 2004, the Israeli Supreme Court held that building the wall on West Bank Palestinian land is in itself legal, but it ordered some changes to the original route, which separated 35,000 Palestinian farmers from their lands and crops. The Israeli finance minister (Benjamin Netanyahu) replied that it was disputed land, not Palestinian and its final status would be resolved in political negotiation. In July 2004, the International Court of Justice at The Hague in an advisory opinion declared that the barrier is illegal under international law and called on Israel to dismantle the walls, return confiscated land and make reparations for damages. Notwithstanding, the number of Arab terrorist suicide bombings continued to decrease with the gradual completion of segments of the Security Barrier, just as the Israeli authorities initially asserted that they would.
Israel refers to land between the 1949 lines and the separation barrier as the Seam Zone, including all of East Jerusalem. In 2003, the military declared that only Israeli citizens and Palestinians with permits are allowed to be inside it; Palestinians have found it increasingly difficult to get permits unless they own land in the zone. The separation barrier cuts off east Jerusalem and some settlement blocs from the West Bank, even as Israelis and Arabs build structures and communities in eastern Jerusalem. Palestinians in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, have continued to protest the separation barrier.Ben Ehrenreich, Is This Where the Third Intifada Will Start?, New York Times, March 15, 2013.
The existing barrier cuts off access to the Jordan River for Palestinian farmers in the West Bank.Ferry Biedermann, Mideast: Environment Too Encounters a Barrier, Inter Press Service, November 25, 2004. Owing to international condemnation after the International Court ruling, Israel did not build a stronger barrier and instead instituted permit-based access control. It has been opined that this change was to allow land to be annexed.Akiva Eldar, Israel effectively annexes Palestinian land near Jordan Valley, Haaretz, November 18, 2011. Israeli settlement councils already have de facto control of 86 percent of the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea as the settler population steadily grows there.
Kuwait
Writer Damon DiMarco has described as a "separation barrier" the Kuwait-Iraq barricade constructed by the United Nations in 1991 after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait was repelled. With electrified fencing and concertina wire, it includes a 5-meter-wide trench and a high berm. It runs 180 kilometers along the border between the two nations.Damon DiMarco, Heart of War: Soldiers? Voices, Citadel Press, 2007, p. 129, , 9780806528144
Lebanon A 2016 separation wall around the Ain al-Hilweh camp in Lebanon is intended to separate the local Palestinian-Lebanese population and Syrian refugee Palestinians from the surrounding society.
Malaysia Renee Pirrong of The Heritage Foundation described the Malaysia–Thailand border barrier as a "separation barrier". Its purpose is to cut down on smuggling, drug trafficking, illegal immigration, crime and insurgency.Renee Pirron, , The Heritage Foundation blog, August 6, 2010
Saudi Arabia
In 2004 Saudi Arabia began construction of a Saudi-Yemen barrier between its territory and Yemen to prevent the unauthorized movement of people and goods into and out of the Kingdom. Some have labeled it a "separation barrier".Anthony H. Cordesman, Saudi Arabia: National Security in a Troubled Region, p. 276. In February 2004 The Guardian reported that Yemeni opposition newspapers likened the barrier to the Israeli West Bank barrier, while The Independent wrote "Saudi Arabia, one of the most vocal critics in the Arab world of Israel's 'security fence' in the West Bank, is quietly emulating the Israeli example by erecting a barrier along its porous border with Yemen". Saudi officials rejected the comparison saying it was built to prevent infiltration and smuggling.
Saudi Arabia has also built a wall on the Saudi Iraqi border.
Turkey
The Syria–Turkey barrier is a wall and fence under construction along the Syria–Turkey border aimed at preventing illegal crossings and smuggling from Syria into Turkey.Reuters: "Turkish developer confident Syria wall in place by spring" By Nevzat Devranoglu and Orhan Coskun December 9, 2016 In 2017, The Syrian government accused Turkey of building a separation wall, referring to the barrier.
From 2017, Turkey began construction a barrier along the Iran–Turkey border aimed at preventing illegal immigration and smuggling.Hürriyet Daily News: "Turkey builds 700 kilometer long wall on Syrian border" 15 June 2017
United Kingdom