"It is submitted that South Africa presents the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (the Commission) and the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights (the Court) with inspiration to draw from on how social-economic rights can be protected. Issues of locus, defining the state's obligations, effective remedies and their enforcement can be drawn from. However, it is impossible to transpose a domestic system directly into the regional system. It is also submitted that South Africa's Constitution and jurisprudence is not without criticisms as assessed against the backdrop of international human rights law. In this respect the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (the Committee) offers immense inspiration. Through its practice of giving normative content to the rights in the ICESCR the Committee has given extensive definition to some of the rights in the ICESCR and the obligations that attach to them. The obligation of the states to take steps to the maximum of the available resources to achieve progressively the full realisation of the rights in the Covenant has been the subject of extensive elaboration by the Committee. In addition to this the Committee has read into the ICESCR a very important concept, the principle of 'core minimum obligations'. This concept sets the benchmark in determining whether the state has discharged it obligations at the minimum level. The Commission and Court should take advantage of the provisions of the Charter which allow for inspiration from other instruments. The Charter obliges the Commission and the Court to draw inspiration from international law and human and peoples' rights, including the UDHR and other instruments adopted by the United Nations and African countries in the area of human rights. This is in addition to taking into consideration other instruments laying down rules expressly recognized by the states. This paper sets out to show that the African system can draw inspiration from South Africa and the Committee in order to surmount the challenges affecting the realisation of the rights. The paper is divided into five parts. The first part outlines the normative framework of protection of economic, social and cultural rights within the ICESCR, the African Charter and South African Constitution. The second part explores the challenges hampering the effective realisation of these rights followed by an analysis of the African Court and the lessons it may draw not only from the Committee and South Africa's Constitution but from the African Commission as well. The fourth part looks at the forth-coming African Court and its challenges, pointing to aspects on which it may seek inspiration. This will be followed by a conclusion and recommendations." -- Introduction. / Prepared under the supervision of Professor Sandra Liebenberg at the Faculty of Law, University of the Western Cape, South Africa / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/academic_pro/llm1/dissertations.html / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

"The thesis of this study is that the flexibility within the exceptions to patent rights protecton under the TRIPS Agreement has not sufficiently been exploited at the national level. The study conceptualises the regimes for the protection of the right to health and IPRs not as mutually exclusive but as potentially reinforcing. The contention is therefore that the obligations in respect to the right to health limit the manner in which states can exercise the flexibilty within the patent regime of the TRIPS Agreement. Eventually the study seeks to answer the question: Where does the guarantee for the right to health lie in light of the TRIPS regime? ... The study is divided into three chapters preceded by an introduction. The introduction lays the background for te discussion. Chapter one deals with the definition of important concepts and provides the context in which the study is set. The chapter also discusses the background to the creation of the TRIPS Agreement, with an emphatic discussion on the involvement or lack thereof of Africn and other least developed and developing countries in this process. Chapter two discusses the patent rights exceptions clause under the TRIPS Agreement. Against this background, compuslory licensing, government use and parallel importing as means of making accessibility to drugs a reality under the TRIPS Agreement will be discussed. Chapter three identifies other means of making drugs more accessible and identifying places where they have worked well. In this chapter, generic substitution, establishemnt of a pricing committee, therapeutic value pricing, pooled procurement, negotiated procurement and planned donations will be discussed. Finally a conclusion will be drawn from the discussion and recommendations will be advanced." -- Chapter 1. / Prepared under the supervision of Riekie Wandrag at the Community Law Centre, University of Western Cape, South Africa / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2002. / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/academic_pro/llm1/dissertations.html / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

Human rights universality has been questioned due to the lack of accountability in both international human rights law and States’ domestic laws when companies violate human rights. In response, the European Commission has proposed a Directive on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence (CS3D), which imposes obligations on companies to identify, prevent, mitigate, and account for human rights impacts. The aim of this study is to examine whether the credibility of human rights universality, as defined by Jack Donnelly, is strengthened by the implications of the CS3D. The study also analyzes the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which the CS3D refers to when defining human rights impacts, and explores the legal implications of this on Swedish domestic law and international human rights law. This study uses a legal dogmatic and legal analysis method to interpret the implications of the CS3D. Throughout the study, a fictional Swedish company and its subsidiary in China are used as examples to illustrate the legal and international implications of the CS3D. The results of this study suggest that the implications of the CS3D contribute to strengthening the credibility of human rights universality, as it addresses the legal gap of accountability in both international human rights law and domestic laws of EU Member States. However, the CS3D could also be perceived as coercive on third States and their natural and legal persons, which may potentially undermine the credibility of human rights universality in the future.

Ontario’s current regulatory approach to low-income housing lies between two primary challenges: the human right to housing, and political/fiscal constraints. This thesis draws on legal theory and economic analysis of law to articulate the proper goals of housing access policy. A structural theory is proposed to explain the normative relationship between efficiency, communitarianism and justice in housing. An array of regulatory options are compared and considered in light of the features that characterize Ontario’s low-income rental housing markets. This analysis favours demand-side housing subsidies to low-income households, combined with supply-side tax expenditures to improve elasticity in the low-income rental market. Further reform of rent and covenant controls, social and affordable housing supply, and land use planning is recommended to ensure an efficient residential tenancy market. These reforms are offered as a framework for the implementation of the human right to housing in Ontario.

Ontario’s current regulatory approach to low-income housing lies between two primary challenges: the human right to housing, and political/fiscal constraints. This thesis draws on legal theory and economic analysis of law to articulate the proper goals of housing access policy. A structural theory is proposed to explain the normative relationship between efficiency, communitarianism and justice in housing. An array of regulatory options are compared and considered in light of the features that characterize Ontario’s low-income rental housing markets. This analysis favours demand-side housing subsidies to low-income households, combined with supply-side tax expenditures to improve elasticity in the low-income rental market. Further reform of rent and covenant controls, social and affordable housing supply, and land use planning is recommended to ensure an efficient residential tenancy market. These reforms are offered as a framework for the implementation of the human right to housing in Ontario.

Within the Surinamese jurisdiction the Constitution grants women the right to health and imposes a legal duty on the state to facilitate the realization of this right. Also treaty law, in particular, the ICESCR article 12 and the CEDAW article 12 grant women the right to the highest attainable standard of health and the right to non-discriminatory access to healthcare. But due to the criminal law applicable to abortion women lack non-discriminatory access to reproductive healthcare and therefore do not enjoy the highest attainable standard of pregnancy related health. Despite its decision not to enforce the abortion prohibiting criminal laws, Suriname remains in a state of failure to comply with its legal duties as imposed by the Constitution and treaty law. This, due to the state’s reluctance to repeal the criminal laws on abortion and its failure to enact effective health regulations to facilitate women in need of an abortion.

Within the Surinamese jurisdiction the Constitution grants women the right to health and imposes a legal duty on the state to facilitate the realization of this right. Also treaty law, in particular, the ICESCR article 12 and the CEDAW article 12 grant women the right to the highest attainable standard of health and the right to non-discriminatory access to healthcare. But due to the criminal law applicable to abortion women lack non-discriminatory access to reproductive healthcare and therefore do not enjoy the highest attainable standard of pregnancy related health. Despite its decision not to enforce the abortion prohibiting criminal laws, Suriname remains in a state of failure to comply with its legal duties as imposed by the Constitution and treaty law. This, due to the state’s reluctance to repeal the criminal laws on abortion and its failure to enact effective health regulations to facilitate women in need of an abortion.

"The implementation of the TRIPS Agreement, within the wider context of globalisation, has brought about a conflict between the obligation of states to promote and protect health and the achievement of economic goals pursued under the WTO regime. Since trade is the driving engine of globalisation, it is imperative that, at the very least, rules governing it do not violate human rights but rather promote them. The problem of IP and the right to health therefore lies in ensuring that the integration of economic rules and institutional operations in relation to IPRs coincide with states’ obligations to promote and protect public health. ... This study centres on the specific debate about health and IPRs in the context of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the WTO rules on IP protection. In terms of a human rights approach to the TRIPS Agreement, the ICESCR has been chosen for several reasons. First, the ICESCR specifically recognises both the right to health and the right to the protection of inventions in clearer terms than any other human rights instrument. Secondly, at least 111 of the state parties to the ICESCR are also members of the WTO including a large number of developing countries. Thirdly, if one sees the ICESCR as a vehicle for the fulfilment of the obligation to promote and protect human rights under the United Nations Organisation’s (UN) Charter, it can be argued that in line with article 103, the implementation and interpretation of TRIPS by all UN members states must take into account basic human rights. However, even with primary focus being on the ICESCR, most of the discussion on practical issues will focus on the experiences in Sub-Saharan Africa because the inequalities and problems of access to health care are most dramatically played out in this part of the world. The objective of the study is to examine the relationship between the obligation of states to progressively realise and guarantee the right to health, and the IP rules under the TRIPS Agreement. The specific objective is to examine the relationship between the exceptions under the TRIPS Agreement and the obligation to protect health and the identification of a consistent way of achieving a convergence between the implementation and interpretation of the rules of the two regimes in the area of health." -- Chapter 1 / Mini Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2001. / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/academic_pro/llm1/dissertations.html / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

This thesis examines the impacts of white supremacy on Jews’ freedom of religion in the United States. In what ways is the American white supremacist movement a threat to Jews’ freedom of religion, and to what extent is the federal state protecting this right in accordance with Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)? By using the Legal Analytical Method, and by applying Daniel Ian Rubin’s approach to Critical Race Theory (CRT), this thesis finds that the white supremacist movement is threatening Jews’ freedom of religion in three main ways: through physical attacks, psychological intimidation, and economic effects. Although the state provides Jewish communities with some protection from white supremacists, recent antisemitic attacks show that the U.S. government could do more to ensure that American Jews can fully enjoy Article 18 of the ICCPR.

This thesis is an examination of whether the “egalitarian model” for political finance that has been established by the Supreme Court of Canada, other Canadian courts and legal scholars and commentators is actually egalitarian and has been applied consistently (in Chapter 2), and whether Canada’s political finance system measures up to the Court’s model (in Chapters 3 and 4), and how it could be changed to comply with a more egalitarian model that would also be ethical in terms of preventing even the appearance of a conflict of interest (in Chapters 6 and 7). Chapter 1 sets out a general theoretical framework for evaluating the Supreme Court’s egalitarian model, and I develop and set out a more egalitarian model in Chapter 5. In the Chapter 8 conclusion, I summarize the findings and propose structural and positive Charter rights court cases as a way forward, given that the platforms federal politicians and political parties from the past few elections, and the reports of parliamentary committees, have not called for the most of the changes I propose are needed to make the system more egalitarian. The thesis addresses political finance broadly defined as money, property, use of property, gifts, services, favours and other benefits and advantages provided to nomination contestants, election candidates and political party leadership contestants, electoral district associations, political parties, politicians and their staff during election campaign periods and also during the time period between elections, including support provided by “third-party” interest groups, lobbyists and other individuals, and by media outlets. In Chapter 3, I examine the rules that apply to each of these political actors in the areas of registration, donations and loans, spending, public subsidies and disclosure (including auditing), including a separate section on the role of media and social media. Given that political systems include providers (whether as contractors or donors) of money, property and the use of property (including gifts and other benefits and advantages), and services (including favours) to politicians, and given that providers could be lobbyists, I also examine in Chapter 4 the rules concerning gifts, favours and other benefits and relations between voters, lobbyists and politicians, and concerning the conflicts of interest that can be caused by these activities. Other than disclosure and auditing, I do not cover enforcement measures or systems in any of the areas. However, I do note at various points in the thesis that, as several studies and history have shown clearly, effective enforcement measures, policies and practices are key to ensure compliance with such rules. The main contentions that I make are: that the key principles of the Supreme Court of Canada’s egalitarian model have not been consistently upheld by the Court and other Canadian courts, that Canada’ federal political finance system does not fulfill the Court’s egalitarian model, and that several changes are needed to make the model and the system more egalitarian, only a few of which have been addressed by Canadian courts and scholars to date. These contentions counter the claim made in the Court’s rulings, and by many scholars and commentators, that Canada’s political finance system has developed and is based on an egalitarian model. In Chapters 5 through 7, I develop a more egalitarian model and set out specific proposed changes to make Canada’s systems more egalitarian, both in theory and in practice, within the framework of a democratic good government political system (meaning a system with separation of powers, elections, human rights protections, rule of law etc.) and a mixed market economy with both public sector institutions and private sector businesses, unions and other organizations (cooperatives, non-profit, religious organizations etc.). Both the model and many of the specific proposed measures should also be applicable in other jurisdictions with different political systems and economic systems. The framework of 19 standards for a more egalitarian model that I develop in Chapter 5 is based mainly on John Rawls’ theory of justice, but modified and expanded to incorporate critiques of Rawls’ theory, other legal principles and democratic good government theories, international standards, government ethics case law, behavioural psychology studies, and evidence of the public’s expectations. The 201 proposals I make in Chapters 6 and 7 for specific changes to the rules of Canada’s current federal political finance system (again, broadly defined), are based on the model, measures from various jurisdictions in Canada and elsewhere, and international standards. I am not claiming that these changes would definitely result in “better” or more “public interest” policy-making decisions, however that would be determined. I am only contending that the framework I develop is more egalitarian than the Supreme Court’s model, and that the rule changes I suggest would make the political finance, gifts, favours, conflict of interest and lobbying systems align with the more egalitarian model I propose. I primarily use the doctrinal research methodology by examining scholarly research and, given I also examine aspects of the laws of Canadian provinces and municipalities, and other countries, I also deploy some aspects of the comparative methodology (most fully when comparing Canada’s federal rules to Quebec’s rules, and somewhat when comparing Canada’s rules to the U.S. and U.K. rules). The research results from these sources inform the conclusions I set out in my thesis. The thesis advances knowledge in the following areas: 1. It is the first complete evaluation of the federal Canadian political finance, gifts-favours-benefits, conflict of interest and lobbying rules and systems in their current state as of May 2023, based on the findings of extensive new research into key parts of these systems; 2. It sets out the first comprehensive analysis of how the Supreme Court of Canada’s egalitarian model has been applied by the Court and other courts inconsistently, in ways that do not comply with the model; 3. It sets out the first analysis of how Canada’s political finance statutory rules, again defined broadly to include rules that apply to donations, loans, gifts, services, favours and other benefits, lobbying and conflicts of interest, do not comply with the Supreme Court’s egalitarian model, based in part on new statistical research set out in 28 charts, and; 4. It sets out a new theoretical framework based on 19 standards, and a comprehensive set of 201 innovative proposals for changes to make Canada’s political finance rules (again defined broadly) more egalitarian, and more ethical in terms of preventing conflicts of interest. Five comprehensive studies of key parts of the political finance, ethics and lobbying systems are also proposed to gather key information needed to inform the design of some of the 201 proposed changes. Eight structural and positive Charter rights cases are also proposed to challenge current rules that do not comply with the egalitarian model.