Section 28(1)(d) of the Constitution guarantees a child the right to be protected against abuse. When a child’s constitutional rights are violated by an offender by means of sexual abuse and degradation, the state has a legal responsibility to restore that right. In determining whether the state is adhering to its legal responsibility to socially reintegrate sexually abused children, the Constitution, the VEP, the Victims’ Charter, the UPVM, legislation and one-stop centres were explored. It was found that none of these programs, charters and documents places an obligation on the state. Section 39(1)(b) of the Constitution states that the court must consider international law when interpreting the Bill of Rights. The CRC, ACRWC, United Nations Declaration of Basic Principles were studied. It was found that although South Africa is a signatory to everyone, it does not adhere to the principles stated in the respected document. Section 39(1)(c) of the Constitution states that the court may consider foreign law when interpreting the Bill of Rights. The dissertation does not consist of a comparative study. Each of Canada, Australia and New Zealand’s legislation was studied relating to compensation schemes in order to determine what lessons can be drawn from the three countries. It was found that each country has a unique compensation scheme. Although South Africa can learn from the way in which these schemes are administered and funded, the schemes of the three countries are not beyond critique. South Africa can therefore also take note of the negative aspects of the compensation schemes of the three countries so as to improve on it. It was found that through a literature study the state does not adhere to its legal responsibility to socially reintegrate sexually abused children. It is recommended that the state should consider implementing a state-funded compensation scheme to assist the children that have fallen victim to sexual abuse and degradation. / LLM, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Section 28(1)(d) of the Constitution guarantees a child the right to be protected against abuse. When a child’s constitutional rights are violated by an offender by means of sexual abuse and degradation, the state has a legal responsibility to restore that right. In determining whether the state is adhering to its legal responsibility to socially reintegrate sexually abused children, the Constitution, the VEP, the Victims’ Charter, the UPVM, legislation and one-stop centres were explored. It was found that none of these programs, charters and documents places an obligation on the state. Section 39(1)(b) of the Constitution states that the court must consider international law when interpreting the Bill of Rights. The CRC, ACRWC, United Nations Declaration of Basic Principles were studied. It was found that although South Africa is a signatory to everyone, it does not adhere to the principles stated in the respected document. Section 39(1)(c) of the Constitution states that the court may consider foreign law when interpreting the Bill of Rights. The dissertation does not consist of a comparative study. Each of Canada, Australia and New Zealand’s legislation was studied relating to compensation schemes in order to determine what lessons can be drawn from the three countries. It was found that each country has a unique compensation scheme. Although South Africa can learn from the way in which these schemes are administered and funded, the schemes of the three countries are not beyond critique. South Africa can therefore also take note of the negative aspects of the compensation schemes of the three countries so as to improve on it. It was found that through a literature study the state does not adhere to its legal responsibility to socially reintegrate sexually abused children. It is recommended that the state should consider implementing a state-funded compensation scheme to assist the children that have fallen victim to sexual abuse and degradation. / LLM, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Text in Afrikaans / The Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 29 November 1989. Included in the inherent rights set out in the Convention is the right to the highest attainable standard of health. In implementing the Convention states parties must refer to the requirements of article 2 of the Convention, which places them under a duty to respect and ensure the rights in the Convention to each child. The term “respect” implies a duty of good faith to refrain from actions which would breach the Convention. The “duty to ensure”, however, requires states parties to take whatever measures are necessary in order to enable children to enjoy their rights. A state party must also review its legislation in order to ensure that domestic law is consistent with the Convention. South Africa showed commitment to protecting and promoting children’s health when it ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1995 and subsequently adopted the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, which includes provisions guaranteeing the health rights of children. South Africa also showed commitment to give legislative effect to the protection and promotion of children’s health by reviewing the Health Act 63 of 1977 (reviewed as the National Health Act 61 of 2003) and the Child Care Act 74 of 1983 (reviewed as the Children’s Act 38 of 2005). The review of the Child Care Act 74 of 1983 revealed that the act is virtually silent on the issue of child health. This led to the decision to identify and evaluate existing policy and legislation, as well as pending relevant law reform and policy affecting child health in order to assess how well South African legislation addresses the issue. The research showed that although much legislation exists, none provides comprehensively for child health rights. The legislation that does exist contains obvious gaps. Most importantly, there is no reference to the core minimum requirements for the state in providing for the health of children, particularly in the way of health services and nutrition. Further, there is a complete lack of legislation which protects the health needs of disabled children. A comparative study was also undertaken. Legislation of India and Canada were evaluated in order to make recommendations as to how the gaps in South African legislation can be rectified. However, the research showed that South Africa has made far more significant progress in promoting a rightsbased approach to children’s health in legislation. In order to ensure that the health rights of children are protected and promoted, I propose more comprehensive legislative protection. / Private Law / LL.D.

Text in Afrikaans / The Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 29 November 1989. Included in the inherent rights set out in the Convention is the right to the highest attainable standard of health. In implementing the Convention states parties must refer to the requirements of article 2 of the Convention, which places them under a duty to respect and ensure the rights in the Convention to each child. The term “respect” implies a duty of good faith to refrain from actions which would breach the Convention. The “duty to ensure”, however, requires states parties to take whatever measures are necessary in order to enable children to enjoy their rights. A state party must also review its legislation in order to ensure that domestic law is consistent with the Convention. South Africa showed commitment to protecting and promoting children’s health when it ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1995 and subsequently adopted the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, which includes provisions guaranteeing the health rights of children. South Africa also showed commitment to give legislative effect to the protection and promotion of children’s health by reviewing the Health Act 63 of 1977 (reviewed as the National Health Act 61 of 2003) and the Child Care Act 74 of 1983 (reviewed as the Children’s Act 38 of 2005). The review of the Child Care Act 74 of 1983 revealed that the act is virtually silent on the issue of child health. This led to the decision to identify and evaluate existing policy and legislation, as well as pending relevant law reform and policy affecting child health in order to assess how well South African legislation addresses the issue. The research showed that although much legislation exists, none provides comprehensively for child health rights. The legislation that does exist contains obvious gaps. Most importantly, there is no reference to the core minimum requirements for the state in providing for the health of children, particularly in the way of health services and nutrition. Further, there is a complete lack of legislation which protects the health needs of disabled children. A comparative study was also undertaken. Legislation of India and Canada were evaluated in order to make recommendations as to how the gaps in South African legislation can be rectified. However, the research showed that South Africa has made far more significant progress in promoting a rightsbased approach to children’s health in legislation. In order to ensure that the health rights of children are protected and promoted, I propose more comprehensive legislative protection. / Private Law / LL.D.

The widening of access to Higher Education (HE) with a concomitant call for more accountability in the HE sector locally and globally, has altered the former elitist status of the university and impacted the professional standing, autonomy, and working conditions of lecturers negatively. Lecturers are increasingly held to account for providing quality teaching and delivering employable graduates. Yet their work environment has been characterised by poor support, dwindling resources, lack of recognition and reward for teaching efforts and excellence, and absence of legal protection when failing to fulfil the undefined yet high accountability expectations in their teaching-related work. This state of affairs has had an inevitable influence on lecturers’ perceived security in their labour environment. The overarching purpose of this study was therefore to generate guidelines to improve the existing juridical foundation for accountability of South African (SA) HE lecturers with a view to enhance their security in their employment context. In order to assist in the fulfilment of this central purpose, the study aimed to develop understanding of how lecturers perceive their accountability and security in light of diverse teaching-related responsibilities and vagueness in terms of expected conduct; and the protection (or lack of protection) of their rights and professional status. An international perspective on these issues was imperative to shed some light on how regulation elsewhere could improve practices in the SA context. While SA lecturers are equally entitled to all the rights stipulated in the Bill of Rights, they are also subject to and accountable for upholding the provisions of the SA Constitution and derived labour legislation relevant within the HE environment. The founding values of the Constitution, namely equality, human dignity and the protection of human rights and related freedoms, form not only the basic standard for measuring lecturer conduct, but also the legal basis for challenging policy, system or conduct that might threaten constitutional or labour rights. Yet, despite the existing juridical foundation for the regulation of accountability and rights protection of SA lecturers, comprising the SA Constitution, general labour and HE legislation, there is an absence of HE-specific teaching-related accountability regulation, resulting in lecturer insecurity regarding expected conduct, professional recognition and support, and accountability expectations in their teaching-related work. In comparison, a number of Australian legal imperatives, including the Commonwealth of Australia Learning and Teaching Council’s standard for quality teaching with corresponding quality indicators, provide for more clearly defined teaching-related accountability regulation. In addition, the Mission Based Compacts, the Threshold Standards, and the national Modern Award for the Higher Education Industry, afford Australian lecturers the protection of HE-specific rights relevant to enhance security in their unique work environment. These legal imperatives proved to be significant for informing the improved juridical foundation for lecturer teaching-related accountability in the SA context to enhance the security of the SA lecturer. With a focus on the development of in-depth understanding of the phenomena of lecturer accountability and security via the perspectives and interpretations of lecturers themselves, the empirical study was grounded in an inductive qualitative methodology from an interpretive-phenomenological perspective. To ensure richness of descriptive data, lecturers actively involved in undergraduate teaching at three different local, and one Australian university, were purposively selected to participate in semi-structured individual and focus group interviews. The analysis and interpretation of the interview data included a comparative component to explore perceptions of lecturer accountability regulation and security protection in an Australian context with a view to identify inadequate legal provisioning for these phenomena in the SA HE environment. From the data analysis and interpretation, seven meaningful themes were identified, associated with either lecturer accountability or lecturer security. The findings offered not only a clear delineation of internal and external lecturer teaching-related accountability, but also a comprehensive definition of lecturer professional security that was found wanting in all legal sources and other literature studied for this thesis. Moreover, in realisation of the primary aim of this study, twelve significant guidelines are presented to establish an improved juridical foundation for lecturer accountability that will enhance lecturer security in the SA Higher Education context. Amongst these are: the development of a clear delineation of teaching-related roles and responsibilities articulated for different academic post levels; the establishment of a professional HE teaching-oriented career path affording professional recognition via a professional body for lecturers, and requiring continuous professional teaching development; and the development of minimum conditions of employment unique to the work of the HE lecturer. / PhD (Education Law), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

The widening of access to Higher Education (HE) with a concomitant call for more accountability in the HE sector locally and globally, has altered the former elitist status of the university and impacted the professional standing, autonomy, and working conditions of lecturers negatively. Lecturers are increasingly held to account for providing quality teaching and delivering employable graduates. Yet their work environment has been characterised by poor support, dwindling resources, lack of recognition and reward for teaching efforts and excellence, and absence of legal protection when failing to fulfil the undefined yet high accountability expectations in their teaching-related work. This state of affairs has had an inevitable influence on lecturers’ perceived security in their labour environment. The overarching purpose of this study was therefore to generate guidelines to improve the existing juridical foundation for accountability of South African (SA) HE lecturers with a view to enhance their security in their employment context. In order to assist in the fulfilment of this central purpose, the study aimed to develop understanding of how lecturers perceive their accountability and security in light of diverse teaching-related responsibilities and vagueness in terms of expected conduct; and the protection (or lack of protection) of their rights and professional status. An international perspective on these issues was imperative to shed some light on how regulation elsewhere could improve practices in the SA context. While SA lecturers are equally entitled to all the rights stipulated in the Bill of Rights, they are also subject to and accountable for upholding the provisions of the SA Constitution and derived labour legislation relevant within the HE environment. The founding values of the Constitution, namely equality, human dignity and the protection of human rights and related freedoms, form not only the basic standard for measuring lecturer conduct, but also the legal basis for challenging policy, system or conduct that might threaten constitutional or labour rights. Yet, despite the existing juridical foundation for the regulation of accountability and rights protection of SA lecturers, comprising the SA Constitution, general labour and HE legislation, there is an absence of HE-specific teaching-related accountability regulation, resulting in lecturer insecurity regarding expected conduct, professional recognition and support, and accountability expectations in their teaching-related work. In comparison, a number of Australian legal imperatives, including the Commonwealth of Australia Learning and Teaching Council’s standard for quality teaching with corresponding quality indicators, provide for more clearly defined teaching-related accountability regulation. In addition, the Mission Based Compacts, the Threshold Standards, and the national Modern Award for the Higher Education Industry, afford Australian lecturers the protection of HE-specific rights relevant to enhance security in their unique work environment. These legal imperatives proved to be significant for informing the improved juridical foundation for lecturer teaching-related accountability in the SA context to enhance the security of the SA lecturer. With a focus on the development of in-depth understanding of the phenomena of lecturer accountability and security via the perspectives and interpretations of lecturers themselves, the empirical study was grounded in an inductive qualitative methodology from an interpretive-phenomenological perspective. To ensure richness of descriptive data, lecturers actively involved in undergraduate teaching at three different local, and one Australian university, were purposively selected to participate in semi-structured individual and focus group interviews. The analysis and interpretation of the interview data included a comparative component to explore perceptions of lecturer accountability regulation and security protection in an Australian context with a view to identify inadequate legal provisioning for these phenomena in the SA HE environment. From the data analysis and interpretation, seven meaningful themes were identified, associated with either lecturer accountability or lecturer security. The findings offered not only a clear delineation of internal and external lecturer teaching-related accountability, but also a comprehensive definition of lecturer professional security that was found wanting in all legal sources and other literature studied for this thesis. Moreover, in realisation of the primary aim of this study, twelve significant guidelines are presented to establish an improved juridical foundation for lecturer accountability that will enhance lecturer security in the SA Higher Education context. Amongst these are: the development of a clear delineation of teaching-related roles and responsibilities articulated for different academic post levels; the establishment of a professional HE teaching-oriented career path affording professional recognition via a professional body for lecturers, and requiring continuous professional teaching development; and the development of minimum conditions of employment unique to the work of the HE lecturer. / PhD (Education Law), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Afrikaans text / Suid-Afrika het ‘n ver pad gekom sedert die 16de eeu in die erkenning en ontwikkeling van kinderregte. Kinderregte word vandag ten volle erken in die Grondwet, wat die hoogste gesag in die land is. Hierdie studie het ten doel om die beskerming van kinderregte in die Suid-Afrikaanse Reg te ondersoek, met verwysing na die rol wat internasionale reg, soos die United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (“die Konvensie”) en die African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child 1990 (“Afrika Handves”) in die ontwikkeling van kinderregte gespeel het. Spesifieke voorskrifte ingevolge waarvan die regte van kinders beskerm word is ondersoek,insluitend artikel 28 van die Grondwet en sekere bepalings van die Kinderwet. Weens die beperkte omvang van hierdie verhandeling, is sekere afgebakende voorbeelde uit die Kinderwet ondersoek met spesifieke verwysing na kinders se regte en tradisionele waardes soos manlike besnydenis, vroulike besnydenis en maagdelikheidstoetse. Daar is gekyk of die praktiese probleme op regeringsvlak, byvoorbeeld die voorsiening en befondsing van maatskaplike dienste, die implementering van die bepalings van die Kinderwet vertraag. Skrywer kom tot die slotsom dat die bepalings van die Kinderwet alleenlik nie voldoende is om effektiewe beskerming aan sekere groepe kinders te verleen nie en hierdie probleme lei daartoe dat kinderregte nie behoorlik gerealiseer en geïmplementeer word nie, en dat daar nie ‘n behoorlike balans tussen die regte en verantwoordelikhede van die kind, die ouers en die staat bereik word nie. Moontlike oplossings vir die probleem en tekortkominge in die uitvoering van die Kinderwet word voorgestel in die slot hoofstuk. / South Africa has come a long way since the 16th century in the recognition and development of children's rights. Children's rights are now fully recognized in the Constitution, the supreme authority in the country. This study aims to investigate the protection of children's rights in South African law, with reference to the role of international law, such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the rights and Welfare of the child 1990, in the development of children's rights. Specific provisions under which the rights of children protected is examined, including Section 28 of the Constitution and certain provisions of the Children’s Act. Due to the limited scope of this paper, some designated examples from the Children’s Act are examined with particular reference to children's rights and traditional values such as male circumcision, female circumcision and virginity testing. It is looked at if whether the practical problems experienced on government level, the provision and funding of social services delay the implementation of the provisions of the Children's Act .Author comes to the conclusion that the provisions of the Children alone is not sufficient to ensure effective protection of the rights of certain groups of children and that these problems led to children's rights not properly realized and implemented, and that a proper balance between the rights and responsibilities of the child, the parents and the state is not reached. In the concluding chapter possible solutions to the problems and shortcomings in the implementation of the Children’s Act is suggested. / Jurisprudence / LLM

Afrikaans text / Suid-Afrika het ‘n ver pad gekom sedert die 16de eeu in die erkenning en ontwikkeling van kinderregte. Kinderregte word vandag ten volle erken in die Grondwet, wat die hoogste gesag in die land is. Hierdie studie het ten doel om die beskerming van kinderregte in die Suid-Afrikaanse Reg te ondersoek, met verwysing na die rol wat internasionale reg, soos die United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (“die Konvensie”) en die African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child 1990 (“Afrika Handves”) in die ontwikkeling van kinderregte gespeel het. Spesifieke voorskrifte ingevolge waarvan die regte van kinders beskerm word is ondersoek,insluitend artikel 28 van die Grondwet en sekere bepalings van die Kinderwet. Weens die beperkte omvang van hierdie verhandeling, is sekere afgebakende voorbeelde uit die Kinderwet ondersoek met spesifieke verwysing na kinders se regte en tradisionele waardes soos manlike besnydenis, vroulike besnydenis en maagdelikheidstoetse. Daar is gekyk of die praktiese probleme op regeringsvlak, byvoorbeeld die voorsiening en befondsing van maatskaplike dienste, die implementering van die bepalings van die Kinderwet vertraag. Skrywer kom tot die slotsom dat die bepalings van die Kinderwet alleenlik nie voldoende is om effektiewe beskerming aan sekere groepe kinders te verleen nie en hierdie probleme lei daartoe dat kinderregte nie behoorlik gerealiseer en geïmplementeer word nie, en dat daar nie ‘n behoorlike balans tussen die regte en verantwoordelikhede van die kind, die ouers en die staat bereik word nie. Moontlike oplossings vir die probleem en tekortkominge in die uitvoering van die Kinderwet word voorgestel in die slot hoofstuk. / South Africa has come a long way since the 16th century in the recognition and development of children's rights. Children's rights are now fully recognized in the Constitution, the supreme authority in the country. This study aims to investigate the protection of children's rights in South African law, with reference to the role of international law, such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the rights and Welfare of the child 1990, in the development of children's rights. Specific provisions under which the rights of children protected is examined, including Section 28 of the Constitution and certain provisions of the Children’s Act. Due to the limited scope of this paper, some designated examples from the Children’s Act are examined with particular reference to children's rights and traditional values such as male circumcision, female circumcision and virginity testing. It is looked at if whether the practical problems experienced on government level, the provision and funding of social services delay the implementation of the provisions of the Children's Act .Author comes to the conclusion that the provisions of the Children alone is not sufficient to ensure effective protection of the rights of certain groups of children and that these problems led to children's rights not properly realized and implemented, and that a proper balance between the rights and responsibilities of the child, the parents and the state is not reached. In the concluding chapter possible solutions to the problems and shortcomings in the implementation of the Children’s Act is suggested. / Jurisprudence / LLM