As places where multiple cultures, faiths, and artistic practices come together, museums exist as physical sites of intersection. They are at once sites of debate, dialogue, protest, and partnership. This intersection uniquely positions museums as capable of tackling challenging subject matter related to human rights and global justice. Through interviews conducted with heritage professionals from eight different institutions across Canada, this dissertation analyses the curatorial practices, methods of collections research, exhibition design strategies, educational programming, and public outreach initiatives of these institutions as they relate to Canada’s three official national apologies delivered in the House of Commons for: The Japanese Canadian Internment during World War II; the Chinese Head Tax and Exclusions Laws; and Indian Residential Schools. This research considers: (1) how are human rights abuses that have occurred in Canada are presently being defined and displayed in Canadian galleries and exhibition spaces; (2) the nature of collaborations and partnerships involved when designing exhibitions of this nature; and (3) the role of both material culture and survivor testimony in processes of creating human rights exhibitions. As a multi-sited ethnographic study into the process of museological project design, the results of this research provide valuable insights into the challenges faced and the strategies deployed by heritage professionals when working with difficult subject matter. This research finds that emotional experiences play a large factor in processes of project development about challenging subject matter. Working with survivors of trauma is not just about creating a successful exhibition; in the end, the exhibition is but one part of the museological process. Museological work of this nature typically involves working directly with survivors of trauma, with exhibitions more often driven in development by the personal narratives shared by survivors and less so by objects in collections. As such, this strain of museological work comes with the possibility for survivors to heal from past trauma through the sharing of their experiences and this healing is part of the transformative potential of museological work. Additionally, this research strongly indicates that the flexibility of smaller, community-driven institutions, where the needs of project participants are central to the curation process, stand as strong examples of human rights work produced through the space of the museum. As such, partnerships between smaller galleries and larger museums exist as valuable sites of institutional collaboration in Canada. Finally, this research indicates museums are situated as key players in the ongoing development of human rights discourses in Canada. Museums create and contribute to the public’s legal understandings of rights and justice as produced through the pedagogies of museum practice, and these pedagogies come to educate the public about acts of discrimination, cultural inequality, violence, and genocide that have occurred in Canada. Such contributions position museums as public institutions as valuable to 21st century rights-based research in Canada. / Graduate

This thesis analyses the implementation and impact of a succession of reform policies in a reasonably typical county in central China between 1978 and 2013. Three phases in the recent history of Li County – a fairly representative microcosm – are examined. These phases emerged as China witnessed transitions across three generations of the central leadership. This study pays special attention to certain key reforms: the allocation of lands to households, the development of Township and Village Enterprises, and self-governance for villagers in the 1980s; the decentralisation of fiscal authority, and the tax sharing system in the 1990s; and the reforms of taxes and fees, reforms beneficial to agriculture, and other supporting reforms from 2000 to 2013. By assessing the implementation of these policies in one predominantly agrarian county in central China – in which 81.5% of the population was rural in 2010 - the thesis attempts to present a vivid picture of what has been happening in China, and to explain why China became what it is now. It also seeks to contribute to an understanding of the diverse political and social impacts of the reforms. The methodology which the current study employs is mainly qualitative. The findings in the thesis are based in part on secondary sources, but it mainly relies on two types of primary sources, which were examined during several phases of fieldwork between 2011 and 2013. First, documentary materials archived by many government departments at different levels within the county were consulted. Second, oral evidence was collected through recorded interviews with local party cadres and peasants in 53 villages in thirty townships within the county. The quantitative data set out in the thesis is drawn either from official statistics or from personal testimonies. The two sets of evidence complement each other, enable cross checking, and lend credibility to this analysis. They help us to understand conflicts that arose amid reform between different groups, and between traditional customs and modern values – and the strategies that have been adopted by a diversity of actors to ease those conflicts and to stabilise society. They also yield insights into the economic, social and environmental impediments which confronted the reform process, and into both the hardships and opportunities which ordinary people encountered.

This thesis examines the People's Republic of China's posture toward the international human rights regime between 1982 and 2011. It focuses on three case studies, including China's participation in the drafting and adoption of the Convention against Torture and the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture, its role during the negotiations to replace the UN Commission on Human Rights with the UN Human Rights Council, and its posture in the International Labour Organization's Conference Committee on the Application of Standards. To explain China's conduct in these contexts, I offer a framework of five possible roles a state can adopt toward a regime—maker, promoter, taker, constrainer, and breaker. I argue that China's posture was determined by three key explanatory variables that include the PRC government's preferences and ideas about international human rights, its concerns with cultivating a positive international image, and the degree of its familiarity with the international human rights regime. In addition, China's willingness and ability to work with other countries acted as a scope condition that influenced the manner in which it played its particular role. Although I find that the PRC played a range of roles, including maker, taker, and constrainer, overall it tended toward a low-profile posture even when it was playing the more demanding role of maker or constrainer. This thesis draws on documentary records, including United Nations reports, International Labour Organization reports, UN Human Rights Council documents, Chinese government statements, and reports from non-governmental organizations, including the International Service for Human Rights and Amnesty International's New York office. It also uses material from over 90 interviews conducted with diplomats from a range of countries, including China and key countries with similar views such as Pakistan and Egypt; representatives of non-governmental organizations that participate in the international human rights regime; and Chinese officials and scholars, including several affiliated with the Chinese government.

Magister Legum - LLM / Sub-Saharan Africa is a region where extreme poverty is prevalent in spite of the regions apparent commitment to the philosophy of human rights, in that all fifty-three countries in the region ratified the African Charter in addition to several international human rights instruments ratified by countries in the region. This state of affairs is traceable to the lack of or ineffective enforcement mechanism of the human rights obligations of countries in the region. Too much attention had been given to post facto intervention of human rights in form of judicial enforcement of these rights to the neglect of other effective methods of enforcement which can be employed in addition to curial enforcement of the rights for a more effective result. This neglect and the ensuing increase in poverty level prompted this research which was aimed at identifying additional methods of pro-active rights enforcement mechanism and the roles of human rights lawyers in their utilisation to reduce poverty in the region. / South Africa

Magister Legum - LLM / The HIV/AIDS pandemic poses the greatest threat to Africa's efforts to achieve its full potential in the social, economical and political spheres. Cognizant of its devastating consequences, various mechanisms have been designed to address the issue of HIV/AIDS in Africa. This thesis addressed the question: 'Are the legislations and policies of Ethiopia, Botswana and Uganda providing for various modalities of HIV testing consistent with human rights as enshrined under African Human Rights system?' The author of this dissertation critically analyzed the African human rights instruments and the relevant domestic legislation and policies of the three countries. / South Africa

Magister Legum - LLM

Magister Legum - LLM / Corrupt practices such as bribery and other abuses of public functions for private gain have been criminalised in almost all legal systems. Criminalisation of acts of corruption constitutes one of the major dimensions of the international anti-corruption instruments. The clandestine nature of corruption crimes creates difficulties in gathering evidence for prosecution and effective implementation of the law. To overcome such problems, some indicators of corruption such as possession of property that far exceeds legitimate sources of income need to be criminalised. It is also imperative to deal with the challenges associated with such criminalisation. This paper tries to analyse the challenges related to due process of law in the investigation and prosecution of illicit enrichment. Further, complexities associated with the process of recovering illicitly acquired assets, such as resources and expertise, as well as effective co-operation among various jurisdictions, need to be explored. Special consideration will be given to the criminalisation of illicit enrichment and its prosecution in the Ethiopian anti-corruption legal framework.

Ever since the beginning of the refugee crisis, the efficiency of the Common European Asylum System has been questioned by MSs and European institutions. Recently, physical barriers have been built by an increasing number of countries in the European Union for the purpose of border controls. Simultaneously, several human rights organization have expressed their concerns on the violation of the right to asylum and of the prohibition of inhuman and degrading treatment resulting from the adoption of this method. This research will analyze this phenomenon through the perspective of international relations theory. The analysis will consider the realist approach in opposition to the liberal one, trying to assess whether border fences can be defined as an expression of national interest which compromises international cooperation in the field of human rights.

No abstract available Copyright / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Private Law / unrestricted

The main purpose of this research is to examine and assess the extent to which Nigeria and South Africa are prepared to invoke diplomatic protection in order to safeguard the human rights of their nationals living abroad and to determine whether there are constitutional provisions empowering them to do so. Diplomatic Protection is an institution in international law whereby a state may take diplomatic action to protect its national who has suffered some harm or injury in a foreign land, but, has not been compensated by the government of the responsible state. The practice of diplomatic protection is believed to have originated in 16th century Continental Europe, and that Vattel, a Swiss jurist and diplomat was the father of the concept. In a broad sense however, Diplomatic Protection also includes the functions performed by diplomatic missions and consular officials. It is an important institution in international law in terms of the redress it affords to individuals who suffer from injuries sustained in foreign countries. Diplomatic protection is examined from the legal and human rights perspectives in this thesis. The method adopted for the research is to identify and critically analyze certain rights which foreigners enjoy outside their countries in order to determine whether these rights can be diplomatically protected in Nigeria and South Africa and the circumstances under which such rights can be denied, derogated or limited by the two states. The choice of the human rights adopted in this research is determined by their importance to the individual generally, and their utility to any individual living in a foreign land. The categories of rights adopted for the examination include, fundamental rights, which are rights so basic to the individual that they cannot be derogated from even in times of national emergencies. Such rights include the right to life, the right to be free from discrimination and the right to be free from torture and other inhuman treatment or punishment. The second category of rights examined is the right to own private property in a foreign land, while the third category is procedural rights. These are rights which assist the individual to obtain substantive justice in a court of law – that is to say, due process rights They include the right to a fair hearing, the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty and the right to be tried within a reasonable time. The conclusion is that although diplomatic protection is not constitutionally entrenched in the two states, their provisions are constitutionally contemplated. However, the human rights of both nationals and aliens in Nigeria and South Africa are constitutionally protected. Nevertheless, it is envisaged that the situation will greatly improve through the implementation of the suggestions and recommendations proffered in the thesis. These include the amendment of the Constitutions of the respective states to reflect the desired change, the reorganization of diplomatic and consular missions of the two states and above all, by making human rights the corner-stone of democracy in the respective states. / Thesis (LLD)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Public Law / unrestricted