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The clash between South Africa's dual need of a new political identity and economic viability reflects not only the difficulty in conducting a traditional foreign policy with a strong ideological overlay but also has spurred the debate over whether her foreign policy is to be conducted on the basis of expediency or principle. This study argues that although the shift to a post-apartheid society has created the context for South African foreign policy to be shaped by a new culture of human rights, it remains an interest-based pragmatic activity rather than an exercise in the projection of ethical values or ideological principles. It seems that the African National Congress (ANC)-led government has not yet resolved the basic contradictions that have bedevilled its international thinking since it came into power. Faced with this dilemma, South Africa is often reduced to straddling the fence by half-heartedly supporting principles on one occasion (as in its relationship with the Republic of China), and on another pursuing its economic interests (as her intention to sell arms to the People's Republic of China attests). The government's basic goal of developing fruitful political and economic linkages without sacrificing the principles which underpin wider policy has proved elusive. The central proposition of this study is that the defining parameters of South African foreign policy have remained largely indeterminate because of the realities of the conflicting interests posed by its domestic and external concerns. In essence, the inability to reconcile primary foreign policy goals (preservation of national economic interest) with new foreign policy aspirations (promotion of human rights and peace through the pursuit of justice and fair-play) reflects a tense ambivalence in the founding principles of post apartheid South African foreign policy. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2001.

This thesis undertakes an in-depth examination of the power of human rights advocacy in combating women's vulnerability to HIV/AIDS. Focusing on sub-Saharan Africa, the thesis explores the gender discrimination that lies at the core of women's susceptibility to the virus. Culturally-imposed social roles are depicted as the fundamental cause of the violation of women's human rights, including their right to health. The objective of the thesis is to analyze the potential of using a human rights approach to address this issue. It adopts the assumption that "the mobilization of shame" triggered by civil society's actors can alter states' human rights practices. Looking at a specific type of actors, namely the transnational advocacy networks, the thesis concludes that "the human rights approach to HIV/AIDS" can be an efficient and effective strategy to pressurize governments to implement their international human rights obligations.

This thesis focuses on the establishment and operation of the latest regional Human Rights Court: The African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights. For the development of human rights protection mechanisms within regional organizations the governments of the member states are of special relevance. They pull the strings to either foster and develop a system or to disrupt it. Therefore, following a brief historical introduction, the first chapter gives an overview of the regional African organization, the former Organization of African Unity (OAU) and today's African Union (AU) which was instrumental in the establishment of the African Human Rights System and has now enhanced it by adding a judicial authority. However, it will become clear that is has taken a long time for the OAU to put human rights violations within the borders of its own member states on its agenda: Not until there was increasing international pressure due to never-ending excrescences of violence in the dictatorial regimes in Africa did the OAU carefully attend to this matter in the late 1970s. Its efforts culminated in the adoption of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (the eponymous Banjul Charter) which entered into force in 1981. The body for the protection created by the Charter was the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights which took up its function in 1987. Since the newly established African Court is not supposed to replace the Commission but rather to strengthen it, the Court operates in concert with the Commission. Therefore the old protection system will still be applicable which deems a portrayal of the system in the following chapter necessary. Here, it will be outlined, that the competences of the Commission remain very limited and that its judicial impact on the State parties involved in its protection procedures has been nearly nil up to this very day. Against this background the next chapter focuses on the Protocol to the Banjul-Charter establishing the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights. First, the historical-political background and the protocol's juridical formulation process are examined. Here it will be shown that the end of global bipolarity has had a remarkable impact on the political protagonists in Africa with the effect that the increasing demands for a human rights Court within the OAU no longer remained completely unheard. It will also be outlined that the path towards the adoption of the protocol has been long and difficult. After a short survey of the organisational structure of the Court it will become clear that the protocol follows to a large extend its Inter-American counterpart concerning the institutional embodiment. However, a remarkable and, in international comparison, a unique achievement has also been achieved by the institutional regulations by making gender equality has one of the key issues to encompass when it comes to the nomination and election of judges. The following chapters outline the jurisdiction of the Court and the judicial process before the Court. In this connection the admissibility criteria will be highlighted in which two remarkable regulations stand out: First, it will become clear that in contrast to other regional human rights courts individuals and NGOs alike are entitled to file a complaint with the African Court (even though initially with the help of the Commission, since the protocol makes the complaint authority of individuals and NGOs dependent of a special declaration of acceptance of the State Parties concerned). Moreover, also unique compared to international two-tier human rights procedures, the protocol does not include a provision according to which a complainant would be obliged to go through a prior Commission procedure before filing a complaint with the Court. Individual complainants rather have direct access to the Court once a declaration of acceptance has been submitted by a State Party to the protocol. Following short remarks on the competence of the Court to issue provisional measures which, among other things, reveal that these measures have, in contrast to those of the ECtHR, binding effect the procedural termination of a complaint comes into focus. Here, the possible contents of the rulings and the control mechanisms for their implementation are being contemplated in a detailed fashion. This last aspect most probably will have great influence on the fate of the Court since the Commission for its part had to a large extent no success due to the fact that it had no conventional implementation procedures to rely on. Therefore, in the vast majority of cases the findings of the Commission trailed off without any State Party concerned paying any attention to it. The drafters of the protocol establishing the Court obviously have learned this lesson since the protocol provides for a quite remarkable implementation mechanism that may be able to impose political and legal pressure alike on State Parties if the Court deems that they have not properly complied with a Court's ruling. Even sanctions within the African Union against a recusant State come into question from a legal point of view - a quantum leap regarding the legal situation under the Banjul Charter. The last chapter rehearses the main findings of the thesis and concludes with a positive outlook on the future development of the African human rights system.

In all the Black communities, women’s rights have always been taken for granted. Women have always been subordinate to the patriarchal system. The denial of domestic violence against rural women has its origin in the age long patriarchal society, deeply rooted in culture and tradition. The main aim of the patriarchal society is the control of women by men. The idea of protecting women abuse is not really new. It is a necessary component of long established and internationally recognized human rights. This includes the right to equality and freedom, liberty and personal security. The recognition could be traced to the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 (UDHR). However, women’s rights remain unrealized and are continuously violated despite the fact that these rights are well expressed in many international documents and national laws. The study examined the factors that conduce towards domestic violence against rural women in the Kwa Zulu Natal Province of South Africa. In this regard, the reasons why they support culture and traditional practices that are detrimental to their health were also explored. The small isolated area of Umzimkhulu was used. In-depth face to face interviews were employed to elicit information from the respondents and brief notes were written down to collect the data. The findings revealed that women are not aware of their human rights. This ignorance and negative attitude is influenced by the dependency of women to men, supremacy of the patriarchal system and the dominance of culture. Most disturbing is that these women don’t seem to see anything wrong with the situation. It is evidently clear therefore that women empowerment, through education, will not only affect women’s autonomy but will also increase their worth and make them understand the impact of traditional practices that they support. All these will have implications for policy and legislative interventions.

The purpose of the essay is to critically discuss and analyse the right to development as an individual and a collective right, and or both at national as well as at the international level. The main objective being to ascertain whether there is .distinct dichotomy between the right to development as an individual and a collective right. Having critically analysed the right to development as an individual and a collective right or both, I attempted to critically discuss both the active and passive subjects of the right - so-called right-holders and duty-bearers respectively, at national as well as at international level. The juridical status of the right has been critically examined. It is clear that the right is legally binding on all states. The right is universally recognised as a human right enjoying international legal status. / Law / LL.M.

The author explores the traditional approaches to interpretation in a constitutional democracy, with specific emphasis on Bill of Rights interpretation. The approaches adopted by the court in India and Canada, are briefly outlined with a view to gleaning from the experience of these countries, a theory which will inform a proper approach to interpretation in a South African context. He concludes that the value-based approach is most appropriate to concretise the rights entrenched in the Bill of Rights, and specifically the so-called second and third generation rights. Addressing the fear that this may lead to an undisciplined judiciary, he concludes that there are sufficient disciplinning mechanisms to ensure that the courts do not encroach upon the other branches of government. / Constitutional, International and Indigenous Law / LL.M.

The right to have access to health care services is enshrined in section 27 of the South African Constitution of 1996 as one of the socio-economic rights protected by this Constitution. In order to observe the entitlements in this human right, the South African government has since 1994, embarked on legislation, policies and programmes to improve access to health care services among vulnerable and disadvantaged groups in South Africa. As a result of the measures put in place by the government, enormous progress has been registered since their enforcement, in respect of access to health care services. However, as evident in some reports such as the 7th Report on Economic and Social Rights by the South African Human Rights Commission and studies conducted by the Studies in Poverty and Inequality Institute (SPII), it is revealed that the measures adopted by the government to improve access to health care services have not effectively translated the entitlements of this right to the population of South Africa. This study is motivated by the disclosure of these concerns, irrespective of the measures put in place by the government to achieve universal access to health care services. The study therefore aims at stressing the importance of upholding the right to have access to health care services in the social transformation process of South Africa. In doing so, it will investigate current health care reforms in South Africa and make recommendations on how to effectively interpret and implement section 27 of the Constitution to achieve equal benefits on access to health care services to everyone in South Africa. / Jurisprudence / LL. M.

Please read the abstract in the 00front of this document / Thesis (LLD)--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Centre for Human Rights / LLD / Unrestricted

Human trafficking has been reported to be on the increase in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa with girls as young as ten years old being trafficked from and within the Province for sexual and labour purposes, and marriage. Human traffickers operate in rural areas, small towns and cities such as Port Elizabeth and East London. However, research on the role of the law enforcement authorities and the civil society organisations in the fight against trafficking in Eastern Cape Province is largely unknown. Situated within the Security Governance Theory, and using the intensive research design, this research reports on the role of the law enforcement authorities and the civil society organisations in the fight against human trafficking in Eastern Cape Province with emphasis on rural-urban differentiation. The challenges which law enforcement authorities and the civil society organisations faced are also discussed. The study, among other things, found that both the law enforcement sector and civil society organisations in the Province ensured that security, criminal justice, physical, emotional, psychological, health and spiritual needs of rescued victims of trafficking were met. The study further established that there was little progress in the fight against human trafficking, more especially in the rural areas of the Province, due to inadequate cooperation among anti-trafficking organisations and the lack of resources.