Since the beginning of the 21st century, the deaths of migrants have become a regular occurrence in southern Arizona where an average of 170 bodies are recovered from the desert each year. This dissertation examines the causes and effects of death and disappearance along the U.S.-Mexico border, seeking to address the contradiction present in the fact that thousands of people have died or disappeared in one of the world’s most heavily surveilled landscapes. It interrogates the ways in which the dead, the missing, and their families are simultaneously erased and exposed in a biopolitical process that has powerful implications beyond the space of the borderlands. The observations for this dissertation are drawn from nearly a decade of both ethnographic research and applied humanitarian assistance in the field of forensic human identification, primarily at the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner, in Tucson, Arizona. Although the majority of migrant fatalities have been determined by the medical examiner to be accidental, resulting from exposure to the elements or unknown causes, a historical analysis reveals the violent nature of these deaths and disappearances, which are a structured result of U.S. border and immigration policies. From their homes to their destinations, migrants in the Americas face a particular kind of structural violence and social invisibility that is revealed when they disappear at the border. This disappearance is then made more thorough by the structured lack of access for families of the missing to services to assist them in their search. Practices of care, whether occurring within families of the missing and dead, during the desert crossing itself, or in the forensic work to identify the dead, powerfully contest the invisibility and erasure experienced by migrants in the Americas today.

Human rights, European Union and Constitutional Discourse Abstract This thesis deals with human rights within the case law of the ECJ. Purpose of this thesis is to denominate and analyze situations of application of human rights in ECJ's case law, especially from the point of view of critique of rights. For such purpose the thesis is divided into six main sections. First section delimits the foundation of (i) liberal theory of human rights, which gives foundations to the contemporary mainstream human rights discourse and (ii) basic notions of ciritique of rights. The first chapter thus create conditions for understanding of arguments developed in the following sections of this thesis. The second sections briefly describes evolution of case law of the ECJ in the field of human rights protection, particularly landmark decisions of the ECJ, in which it afforded protection to human rights as general principles of the Community law. The third section follows the second section and tries to analyze the human rights case law of the ECJ from the point of view of their recognition as general principles of the Community law. This thesis reflects the self-evident nature of human rights within the Community law and argues that despite the self evident presuppositions of human rights the has been quite selective when...

This thesis concentrates on the theme of regional and subregional protection of human rights in Africa. Firstly, it tries to give a summary of the system of human rights protection within the African Union and its evolution with brief characterization of the African Charter on Human and Peoples` Rights, the African Commission on Human and Peoples` Rights and the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights. The second chapter concentrates on the protection of human rights under the regional economic communities provided by three subregional courts, namely the ECOWAS Court of Justice, the SADC Tribunal and the East African Court of Justice. It provides an insight into the functioning of these three subregional courts and analyses questions relating to their human rights jurisdiction as well as their human rights practice and different challenges that these courts had and have to face. It concludes that although the effectivity of the regional and subregional human rights protection in Africa is yet not high and has to be improved, the system is still in its beginning and there is a potentional for the subregional courts to became more effective forums for human rights protection.

Aidai Idinova Abstract The thesis will look at the how effective human rights protection can be, and especially regarding the Roma population in the Czech Republic. As there is a huge number of human rights, this thesis will focus on the right to education. Moreover, the case study of this thesis is the Roma population in the Czech Republic, therefore the rights and livelihoods of the Roma population will be analysed, examined and evaluated in this country. The thesis will also look at four hypotheses and try to find out if there really exists discrimination in the country, and to what extent; whether religion has an effect towards perceptions towards Roma; whether longer education changes one's attitudes towards Roma; and whether a communist past correlates with greater discrimination. But most importantly, this thesis will look at the right to education and the access to education for Roma students. Education is such an important human right as it has long-term effects in Roma's employment, health care and housing opportunities. Therefore, the Czech educational system will be analysed in regards to the socially disadvantaged group of the Roma population.

Journalists reporting from conflict zones are increasingly at risk of injury or death. Not only are they at risk of becoming a casualty in the crossfire, they are now often directly targeted and killed because of their profession. The legal framework protecting journalists in conflict zones consists predominantly of International Humanitarian Law, supplemented by International Human Rights Law and International Criminal Law. The main body of law providing protection to journalists consists of the Geneva Conventions and their additional Protocols, which are now several decades old. Since their drafting, there have been significant changes in the way we conduct wars, as well as in the way journalists operate and report from conflict zones. This raises the question whether this legal framework is still suitable for the protection of journalists in contemporary conflicts. This thesis confirms that the legal framework contains, at least in theory, a significant number of provisions that continue to provide protection for journalists in conflict zones. What is clear, however, is that there are significant differences in the protection awarded to journalists based on the type of journalist, for example whether they are embedded or function independently in conflict zones, the type of conflict they are covering and even their nationality. The result is a rather complicated legal framework that is not always easy to apply in practice. It has been argued by the International Committee of the Red Cross, a view also reflected in most of the academic literature, that the protection offered by the current legal framework is adequate, but that the enforcement of it is lacking. This is considered the predominant reason why journalists reporting on conflicts currently face such significant risks to their safety. While this is clearly part of the problem, this thesis challenges the notion that the legal framework provides all necessary protection and that only through stronger enforcement can protection be increased. In particular, it suggests that this ignores the effect that clarity and the comprehensiveness of the framework can have on enforcement. Having explored the gaps and limitations in the existing law, this thesis sets out the case for introducing a dedicated convention for the protection of journalists in conflict zones in order to clarify and streamline the current legal framework.

LL.D. / The starting point of this research is the observation that the protection of human rights and the prevention of human rights atrocities can only take place through a universal system of different means of accountability which create enough deterrence for the future state or individual offender. This research consists of four parts: Part A explores and outlines the different existing ways and means of traditional human rights protection under the international and regional human rights regimes. It focuses on the aspect of victim protection from human rights violations through protective means available under the different human rights regimes. Part A concludes that the existing means and ways of protecting human rights are by far not sufficient to ensure the compliance of states with the existing provisions on human rights protection and that the protection of human rights remains an unfinished chapter of international law. Parts B and C analyze the evolving approach to hold states and individuals directly accountable for gross human rights violations, via the means of criminal and/or civil responsibility. Part B explores the possibilities of human rights protection by the means of criminal prosecution. It outlines the development of the concept of criminal responsibility from the days of Nuremberg to the present International Criminal Court in The Hague. The main focus is on domestic criminal procedures as a supplement and possibly alternative to international prosecution. This part concludes with the observation that the present mechanisms and means available under the existing international and domestic jurisdictions fail to establish individual criminal accountability at the necessary global scale and therefore fail to deter the commission of future genocide. Part C explains the necessity to establish an international system of civil liability for human rights atrocities as a supplement and (even) alternative to the existing mechanisms of accountability. The present possibilities for the individual victim to obtain financial redress for his suffering under international law are outlined and discussed. The further option of asserting civil legal action for human rights violations under domestic jurisdictions is scrutinized and evaluated with a special focus on the USA as the state which has so far the strongest adjudication of human rights claims. This part concludes with the finding that the individual victim of human rights violations still lacks the necessary forum with the respective judicial means to hold the perpetrator financially liable for his human rights violations. Part D introduces a draft Statute on a (future) Convention on Individual Civil Liability for Human Rights Atrocities as a supplement for the existing ways of human rights protection. Each provision of the draft statute is evaluated in the context of already existing legal instruments, jurisprudence and, if available, examples of customary usage. The draft’s overall aim is the establishment of a working system of civil liability for the individual and corporate human rights perpetrator for a selection of egregious human rights atrocities qualifying as so-called international or transnational human rights torts. This research concludes with the finding that only a combination of the existing ways and means of human rights protection, the consequent application of the existing provisions and finally their further development can safeguard the protection of human rights at a global scale.

Mina is a young girl in a rural village called Tobay in Pakistan when her only friend Dhaaga, a family servant around her age, suddenly leaves. After a betrayal by her father’s second, much younger wife, Mina starts her long journey. She becomes a prostitute in Heera Mandi, the famed red light district of Lahore, and unexpectedly finds friends in a nearby transvestite brothel. Mina suddenly ends up with her life in danger when she tries to take revenge on the man who ruined Dhaaga’s life. She gets help from a human rights lawyer and escapes to safety in America with a New Orleans cabbie, who she met during her Heera Mandi days. She is eventually forced to come back to Pakistan and finally returns to her home in Tobay, where she finds that everything has changed as much as she has. The novel is set in 1980s Pakistan, when the country faced increasing religious pressure from its military government, and girls like Mina got caught up in stricter standards of honor. It is a coming-of-age novel that takes the protagonist around the world before she is able to finally face her djinns and demons.

As a prominent and influential missionary in Turkey in the early 20th century, Samuel Ralph Harlow offers a new perspective that should be included in historical literature on foreign missionaries and human rights. Through his correspondence and academic works, Harlow’s story unveils internal conflict among United States officials and missionaries in regard to Turkish treatment of Greeks and Armenians in the interwar period. Samuel Ralph Harlow represents the position in support of American intervention to rescue Greeks and Armenians from massacre and deportation, but as his superiors’ views on the matter changed, Harlow was silenced. The U.S. may have decided not to intervene after all, but missionaries certainly played a role in the decision. Harlow was an early advocate for foreign intervention for the sake of protecting human rights, and his story shows how American missionaries helped mold U.S. support for protecting vulnerable populations abroad. The Samuel Ralph Harlow Papers at Amistad Research Center are virtually untouched by academics; thus, Harlow deserves a study in his own right. This study involved extensive research on Harlow’s original papers, the United States Government Official Foreign Relations Documents, and the historiography of human rights and missionaries in the Middle East, particularly Turkey.

LL.D. / In hierdie studie word ondersoek ingestel na die beregbaarheid van sosiale sekerheidsregte as 'n fundamentele reg wat deur die Grondwet verskans word. Die konsep "sosiale sekerheid" is as fundamentele reg bekend gestel in die Suid- Afrikaanse regsisteem deur die insluiting van die reg op toegang tot sosiale sekerheid in artikel 27(1)(c) van die Grondwet van die Republiek van Suid-Afrika 108 van 1996. Artikel 27(1)(c) bepaal soos voig: Elkeen het die reg op toegang tot sosiale sekerheid, met inbegrip van gepaste sosiale bystand indien hulle nie in staat is om hulself en hul afhanklikes te onderhou nie. Artikel 27(2) bepaal soos voig: Die staat moet redelike wetgewende en ander maatreels tref om binne sy beskikbare middele elk van hierdie regte in toenemende mate te verwesenlik. Alhoewel die reg op sosiale sekerheid spesifieke vermeiding in artikel 27(1)(c) geniet, bestaan daar ook ander regte in die Handves van Regte wat as vertakkings of bepaalde risiko's van 'n sosiale sekerheidstelsel beskou kan word. Dit is die reg op toegang tot mediese sorg, die reg op voedsel en water, die reg op toegang tot geskikte behuising, die regte van kinders op sorg, basiese voeding, skuiling, basiese gesondheidsorg- en maatskaplike dienste. Wanneer daar dus na sosiale sekerheidsregte verwys word, sal dit al bogenoemde bepalings insluit. Die term "sosiale sekerheid" in plaas van "maatskaplike sekerheid" sal ook gebruik word omdat eersgenoemde 'n wyer aanwending as Iaasgenoemde het.

[pt] O presente trabalho pretende demonstrar que durante a persecução penal (fase policial e fase judicial) o imputado deve sempre ser tratado como inocente (estado de inocência) e permanecer em liberdade, sendo a prisão preventiva admitida somente em casos absolutamente excepcionais, e desde que a mesma tenha função de medida cautelar instrumental. Esta pesquisa não tem a pretensão de exaurir o tema, mas, sim, trazer à discussão algumas questões que estão na ordem do dia, mormente quando se fala de prisão preventiva para garantia da ordem pública, uma vez que a medida extrema decretada sob tal fundamento não apresenta características de medida instrumental. Pretende-se, portanto, num primeiro plano, demonstrar o embate existente entre o princípio constitucional da presunção de inocência e a decretação da prisão preventiva para garantia da ordem pública. E em segundo, tem-se por objetivo demonstrar a inconstitucionalidade da medida de exceção decretada nos termos acima referidos, e conseqüentemente, as ofensas aos direitos humanos fundamentais e aos fins propostos por um Estado Democrático de Direito, quando ordenada. / [en] The present work moves forward in the perspective of demonstrating that during the penal (phase policeman and judicial phase) persecution, imputed should be treated always as innocent (innocence state), should stay in freedom, being the protective custody only admitted in cases absolutely exceptional, and since the same has function of instrumental precautionary measure. That research doesn't have the pretension of exhausting the theme, but, to bring the discussion some subjects that are in the order of the day, usually when we speak of protective custody for warranty of the order it publishes, once the extreme measure ordained under such a foundation doesn't present characteristics of instrumental measure. It is intended, therefore, beginning, to demonstrate the existent collision between constitutional principles of the innocence presumption and the announcement of the protective custody for warranty of the public order. In a second plan, there is an objective to demonstrate the unconstitutionality of the exception measure ordained in the terms above referred and road of consequence, the offenses that can occur to the fundamental human rights and the ends proposed by one Democratic state of Right, when ordinate.