The realization, promotion and protection of human rights are processes that have received both negative and positive reactions globally. The adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 by the United Nations General Assembly paved the way for the creation of similar instruments nationally, sub-regionally and regionally. These instruments are specific to issues of human rights in the particular states, sub-regions and regions in which they are adopted. Africa, Europe and America have established regional systems and adopted instruments as well as mechanisms to cater for the needs of their specific regions. Unlike general human rights, women‟s rights were not a priority and so their development began as recently as the 1980s. In Africa, the progress of the rights of women was majorly influenced by the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against women, an international instrument adopted in 1979/81. Followed by its Protocol, this instrument specifically addressed the rights of women globally. Consequently, instruments such as the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the Protocol on the Rights of Women, the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa and other mechanisms which include Commissions and Courts were established to address the rights of women in Africa. This study highlights the composition or make up of the African human rights system and its access to women. The central problem in this study is the question “Why women have not been able to access the system despite the prevalent cases of violation of their rights”. This question is emphasized by the fact that so far, no women have take any cases alleging violation of their rights to the African Commission of Human and Peoples‟ Rights. The study also critically analyses the obstacles and challenges that hinder women from accessing the system and discusses how these factors eventually limit the prevalence of women‟s rights. The study concludes by suggesting possible remedies and reforms both legal and beyond that can be enforced to boost the African human rights system to ensure that women freely enjoy and exercise the rights to which they are entitled. / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Public Law / unrestricted

Some worry has been expressed in human rights circles that the human rights archetype has for some time now, disproportionately preoccupied itself with the culture of rights and claims at the expense of individuals? duties and responsibilities. A claim is made that while rights are individualistic, self-seeking, unworldly, self-indulgent and anti-social, individual duties and responsibilities are collective, social, humane, nuanced and associated with correct traditional and social behaviour and human values. The language of rights has dominated the texts of bills of rights in constitutions, and international instruments, and many view this rhetoric as unproblematic. Others, however, consider the currency of that language as overlooking, with dire consequences to human society, the concept of duty as the missing link of human dignity. There have, accordingly, been calls for a renewed focus on individual duties and responsibilities in the human rights discourse. The question is whether focussing on individual responsibility is necessary to counterbalance what is viewed by some as a bias towards rights. Efforts to raise international consciousness of what is regarded as the limitation of a purely rights-based approach to human rights has been spearheaded by, among others, faith based organisations. These have advocated not only a more visible recognition of individual duties and responsibilities generally, but an international declaration of human responsibilities as a ?common standard for all people and all nations.? The calls being made are premised on, first, a view that a device in the form of an international declaration ? a set of international rules ? should be developed to change the current human rights architecture. This code of ethical obligations is necessary to guide and change individual behaviour. Second, a belief that greater emphasis should be laid on individual duty responsibility to supplement existing international human rights norms and standards, and finally, that human rights principles alone are inadequate for modern societies to regulate themselves well. With particular reference to perspectives from the African Charter based human rights system, this project interrogates these concerns regarding duties with a view to ascertaining whether there is justification in them. Using as a reference point the concept of duties in the African Charter and to a small extent that in the African Children's Charter, which represents the older ii and more established part of the African human rights system, the project concludes that although individuals? duties are important and deserve greater attention, there is no convincing case for the calls that are being made in this regard. / Thesis (LLD)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Centre for Human Rights / LLD / Unrestricted

The purpose of this research is to look for a legal basis which a parent whose child has been abducted can retrieve his child. The Hague Convention deals with the question of parents who abduct their own children and take them to foreign countries. Discusses to what extent the African Human Rights System can complement the mechanism provided by the Hague Convention. The significance of this study is that it captures a seemingly harmless act for what it truly is. / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2007. / Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Law University of Pretoria, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Masters of Law (LLM in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa). Prepared under the supervision of Associate Professor John-Jean Barya of the Faculty of Law, University of Makerere, Uganda. / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/ / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

For over a century, corporations engaged in the extractive industries in Africa have operated without ethical rules. They have been notoriously fingered for rampant environmental, labour, health and human rights violations, including land despoliation, forced displacement, environmental pollution, cultural infringements and, sometimes, deaths. While the responsibility for regulating companies and protecting human and peoples’ rights primarily rests with states, they have often been unable or unwilling to do so effectively. Amidst these persisting challenges, the phenomenal rise of transnational corporations in the global economy have rendered more complex the gaps in global governance by presenting new challenges that make territorial regulation by single countries impracticable. While victims groan, contestations about the human rights obligations of corporations have allowed extractive and other companies to fly below the radar of accountability; thereby, enabling extractive businesses to ride roughshod over communities and the environment. After several United Nations-led initiatives to address the adverse impacts of corporations, they have proven insufficient to hold companies accountable for violations in the extractive sector. This thesis, therefore, is a dispassionate attempt to explore the role of the African regional human rights system as an important complementary level of normative and institutional governance for regulating abusive corporate conduct and advancing human rights accountability in the extractive industries. It adopts an African approach to corporate human rights accountability in critically evaluating the contours of the corporate accountability discourse. It problematises the near-total reliance on inadequate domestic action in host states for regulating powerful corporate conglomerates in this age of globalisation and highlights the limits of extraterritorial regulation by home states in addressing transborder abuses. After a careful assessment, it finds that African human rights norms and regional mechanisms can play a key part in regulating abusive corporate practices and protecting the human rights and environmental wellbeing of resource-rich communities affected by the extractive industries in Africa. / Thesis (LLD)--University of Pretoria, 2021. / German Academic Exchange Service (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst - DAAD) / Centre for Human Rights / LLD / Unrestricted

Despite several strides made, governance has remained a foundational issue to be addressed in the struggle for human rights and inclusive development in Africa. Almost two decades into existence, it has become imperatively necessary to evaluate the success of this struggle through Africa’s monitoring tool - the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM). This work examines the progress attained in the context of Ghana, which has been acclaimed as a leading democracy in Africa and was the first country to be reviewed. Largely through doctrinal research, data was obtained from online sources and visits to key institutions in Ghana including its National APRM (NAPRM) Secretariat. The findings of this work reveal a higher success level in compliance with legal and policy adjustments, although sometimes instituted at a very slow pace. Yet attaining the anticipated human rights impact has remained a challenge. The lack of Ghana’s political will and poor funding as well as poor responsiveness from the APRM international Secretariat have highly impeded the work of Ghana’s NAPRM; including its continuous publication of Program of Action (POA) reports. It has thus mainly resorted to domestic District Governance Assessments (DGAs) which have in themselves not also been regular. The absence of political will has also been the primary obstacle to a subsequent review, and only recently has Ghana started plans to undergo a Targeted Review on specific domestic issues. This attitude has for several decades similarly been transposed into the country’s state reporting obligations under other African human rights monitoring systems, hence affecting their ability to directly impact domestic change in comparison to the APRM. The findings of this work demonstrate the need to strengthen state responsiveness to treaty monitoring obligations, as well as the workings of the APRM in collaboration with other African monitoring mechanisms. / Mini Dissertation (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) --University of Pretoria, 2021. / European Union / Global Campus of Human Rights / Royal Norwegian Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa / Centre for Human Rights / LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa) / Unrestricted

This study contributes to the debate surrounding the suitability of Regional Economic Community (REC) courts as avenues for protection of human rights in view of the economic focus of RECs. Recommends adjustments that can be made within the African Human Rights System (AHRS) to deal with the challenges associated with the development of REC courts both in the interim and in the long-term. / A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Law University of Pretoria, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Masters of Law (LLM in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa). Prepared under the supervision of Dr. Jacqui Gallinetti, Faculty of Law, University of Western Cape. / LLM Dissertation (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa -- University of Pretoria, 2009. / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/ / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

Primarily, this study seeks to examine the means and effectiveness of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, African human and Peoples' rights organizations, and the government of the Gambia in their efforts to propagate the institutions and legal instruments of the African Human and Peoples' Rights System (AHPRS) in general and the rights and duties of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights in the country of The Gambia in particular since the Charter came into force in 1986. The work explores the history of the AHPRS from ancient conceptions of rights and duties within Classical Africa to its formal establishment in the 1980s and 1990s with emphasis placed on the particular political and social history of The Gambia. Further, the work presents and analyzes the work of three African human rights organizations operating within The Gambia and offers an Afrocentric critique of the promotion of the African Human and Peoples' Rights System. / African American Studies

Thesis (LL.M.)--Stellenbosch University, 2003. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In recognition of the socio-economic imbalances inherited from the past and the abject poverty experienced by many, the people of South Africa adopted a Constitution fully committed to protecting socio-economic rights and advancing social justice. Apartheid constituted a violation of every internationally recognised human right. Seen in this light the emphasis on socio-economic rights in the new South African Constitution represents a commitment to guarantee to everyone in society a certain minimum standard of living below which they will not be allowed to fall. As the Constitution recognises socio-economic rights as justiciable rights, they can be of assistance to those who are unable to support themselves when challenging the state for the non-delivery of basic services. The duty to deliver the services lies first with the state and the court becomes involved only once it is alleged that the state has failed to fulfil its duty. The primary purpose of the study is aimed at determining the effectiveness of the South African Human Rights Commission in monitoring court orders in respect of the implementation of socio-economic rights. Non-Governmental Organisations, involved in the promotion and protection of human rights including socio-economic rights, cannot be left out of the process. It is argued that where the Courts issue structural interdicts, which have of late been used by them, albeit not enough in the context of socio-economic rights, they are responsible for the implementation of such orders. It is also argued that the South African Human Rights Commission and NGOs must be enjoined to ensure that court orders are better implemented. Court orders in respect of socio-economic rights in almost all the cases to date were neither implemented nor monitored adequately. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Ter erkenning van die sosio-ekonomiese ongelykhede wat post-apartheid Suid- Afrika geërf het en die volslae armoede waaraan talle Suid-Afrikaners onderwerp is, het die mense van Suid-Afrika 'n grondwet aanvaar wat verbonde is tot die beskerming van sosio-ekonomiese regte en die bevordering van maatskaplike geregtigheid. Apartheid het elke internasionaal-erkende mensereg geskend. Teen hierdie agtergrond verteenwoordig die klem op sosioekonomiese regte in die nuwe Suid-Afrikaanse grondwet 'n verbondenheid daartoe om vir elkeen in die maatskappy 'n bepaalde minimum lewensstandaard te waarborg, waaronder hulle nie toegelaat sal word om te sak nie. Aangesien die grondwet sosio-ekonomiese regte as beregbare regte erken, kan hierdie regte van nut wees vir mense wat hulself nie kan onderhou nie, as hulle die staat uitdaag omdat basiese dienste nie gelewer word nie. Die plig om dienste te lewer berus eerstens by die staat, met die gevolg dat die hof eers betrokke raak as die staat nie daarin slaag om sy plig te vervul nie. Die primêre doel van hierdie studie is om vas te stel hoe effektief die Suid- Afrikaanse Menseregtekommissie is met die monitering van hofbevele wat betrekking het op die verwesenliking van sosio-ekonomiese regte. Nieregeringsinstansies wat betrokke is by die bevordering en beserkming van menseregte, met inbegrip van sosio-ekonomiese regte, kan egter nie uit die proses gelaat word nie. In hierdie studie word aangevoer dat waar die strukturele interdikte gee, soos wat in die onlangse verlede gebeur het, selfs al is dit nie genoeg in die konteks van sosio-ekonomiese regte nie, hulle ook verantwoordelikheid is daarvoor dat sulke bevele uitgevoer word. Dit word verder gestel dat die Suid-Afrikaanse Menseregtekommissie en nieregeringsinstansies moet saamwerk om te verseker dat hofbevele beter uitgevoer word. Tot op datum is amper geen hofbevele oor sosio-ekonomiese regte bevredigend uitgevoer of genoegsaam gemoniteer nie.

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International law today is a discipline rife with dissensions. This is largely because international law has meant different things to different generations of scholars and nation-states. In 1996 a United States circuit court in Atlanta affirmed a civil judgment against an Ethiopian defendant in an action initiated by Ethiopian citizens for violations of that country’s law and international law. But about a decade earlier in 1984 another appeal court denied to enforce claims against Libyan and Palestinian defendants under international law because according to the court, international law is dedicated exclusively to the relationship between independent states and not their citizens. Although such different interpretations may appear startling, over the previous centuries, courts have eschewed one view while embracing the other. It is thus imperative to examine what constitutes international law or under what authority a U.S. court could challenge another state’s treatment of its own citizens, in its own land, under its own laws. The Judiciary Act of 1789 which created the Alien Tort Statute, a relatively obscure piece of legislation is at the center of these actions. But what was the original intent of the Alien Tort Statute? Is it possible to reconstruct the meaning of that statute? To answer these questions, this dissertation critically interrogated the meaning of international law and the law of nations as it existed at the time of the founding of the United States. What was called the law of nations and subsequently international law revealed multiple meanings. In unpacking the history of the Alien Tort Statute, this dissonance was reflected in the conflicts which assailed the discipline. This dissertation therefore reproduces the dissensions as it analyzes and reconstructs a hitherto unexplored front in this debacle: lawsuits filed by some Africans in the United States under the Alien Tort Statute against their leaders and corporations for egregious human rights violations in Africa. In the end therefore, the issue becomes, can justice and reparations be achieved in United States courts for human rights violations committed in Africa?