The thesis employs critical discourse analysis to map the debate regarding the deployment of armed Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in warfare and analyses the arguments that legitimise drone strikes and those which criticise their deployment. It also identifies the contentious issues regarding new technologies in warfare. The thesis is aimed at examining the kinds of arguments and justifications that have been provided by different actors for the deployment of armed drone strikes by the United States in Pakistan over a fifteen-year period, beginning with the first strikes in June 2004. It focuses on the bureaucratic debates regarding the strikes and how political leaders have framed the rationale for their deployment. Consequently, it is important to critically analysis how the strikes by United States have been interpreted by different voices and whether the actions of the United States and its drone policy can or cannot be normatively and ethically justified. The thesis sets out by identifying the common themes that emerge from the public discourse and sets out to answer one key question that assesses the intertextual framework that has bounded the official discourse, the wider political, academic and public debate regarding armed unmanned drone strikes. That is: How have the US drone campaigns...

This dissertation analyses the domestic implementation of the repression of violations of International Humanitarian Law. Through this analysis it seeks to clarify the obligations placed on States under International Humanitarian Law to ensure an effective and workable system for the repression of violations. In assessing these obligations, this dissertation attempts to highlight the importance of an effective system that is properly implemented in a timely manner. It is shown that the obligations placed on States are not burdensome and are outweighed by the advantages of proper implementation. This dissertation demonstrates these advantages through a case study of Uganda where the consequences of the failure to implement an effective system of repressions of violations of International Humanitarian Law are documented. Practical solutions that may assist in remedying the defective system to repress violations in Uganda are provided. It is argued not only for the need to properly implement an effective system of repression of violations, as required under International Humanitarian Law, but for the need to implement a system that goes beyond that which States are legally obliged to do. / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / Public Law / unrestricted

Magister Philosophiae - MPhil / The purpose of this mini-thesis is to address International Humanitarian Law (IHL) violations occurring within the Occupied Palestinian Territories relative to the protection of civilian persons in time of war. Importantly, various IHL violations that occur within the Green Line will be expanded upon. The mini-thesis will shed light on the lack of international action, specifically the inaction of the UN and the ICRC, in ending the decades of IHL violations by both the Israeli and Palestinian forces. As a means to an end, further destruction of property and loss of life that inhibits the quality of life of Palestinians and Israeli citizens trapped within the ongoing conflict, this mini-thesis will endeavour to provide solutions to ending the occupation. These solutions include: a UN Resolution directed toward the demolition of the wall; establishing permanent means of access to all basic needs; and lastly, addressing the influence of the United States of America (USA) and Egypt, respectively.

This thesis makes the case for eliminating the distinction between types of armed conflict under international humanitarian law (IHL). Currently, IHL makes the distinction between international and non-international armed conflicts. International armed conflicts are regulated by more treaties than their non-international counterparts. Furthermore, the regulation of international armed conflicts is also considerably more comprehensive than that offered for participants in and victims of non-international armed conflicts. This bifurcation of the law was logical at the time the Geneva Conventions of 1949 were drafted and adopted, as the majority of armed conflicts prior to that point had been international in character. However, in the years following the adoption of the Conventions, there has been a proliferation of non-international armed conflicts, which presents challenges to a body of law that has few tools to adequately address such occurrences. The adoption of the Additional Protocols in 1977 went some way to addressing the legal lacunae that existed, but significant gaps still remain. Mindful this history, this thesis tracks the growth and evolution of the laws of armed conflict in the modern era, since the first document of the laws of war produced for the American Civil War. In doing so, this thesis demonstrates how the law of armed conflict has become increasingly harmonised in its application, with more rules of IHL being generally applicable in all instances of armed conflict, regardless of characterisation. This thesis then makes the argument that the time has come for the final step to be taken, the elimination of the distinction between types of armed conflict, and the complete harmonisation of the laws of war. Focusing specifically on the issue of combatants and POWs in armed conflicts, this thesis draws on considerable legal precedent, legal theory, and policy arguments to make the case that it is time for the law relating to the regulation of armed conflicts to be more uniformly applied.

This thesis makes the case for eliminating the distinction between types of armed conflict under international humanitarian law (IHL). Currently, IHL makes the distinction between international and non-international armed conflicts. International armed conflicts are regulated by more treaties than their non-international counterparts. Furthermore, the regulation of international armed conflicts is also considerably more comprehensive than that offered for participants in and victims of non-international armed conflicts. This bifurcation of the law was logical at the time the Geneva Conventions of 1949 were drafted and adopted, as the majority of armed conflicts prior to that point had been international in character. However, in the years following the adoption of the Conventions, there has been a proliferation of non-international armed conflicts, which presents challenges to a body of law that has few tools to adequately address such occurrences. The adoption of the Additional Protocols in 1977 went some way to addressing the legal lacunae that existed, but significant gaps still remain. Mindful this history, this thesis tracks the growth and evolution of the laws of armed conflict in the modern era, since the first document of the laws of war produced for the American Civil War. In doing so, this thesis demonstrates how the law of armed conflict has become increasingly harmonised in its application, with more rules of IHL being generally applicable in all instances of armed conflict, regardless of characterisation. This thesis then makes the argument that the time has come for the final step to be taken, the elimination of the distinction between types of armed conflict, and the complete harmonisation of the laws of war. Focusing specifically on the issue of combatants and POWs in armed conflicts, this thesis draws on considerable legal precedent, legal theory, and policy arguments to make the case that it is time for the law relating to the regulation of armed conflicts to be more uniformly applied.

This thesis attempts to understand the impact of international human rights and environmental NGOs on affecting domestic policy and law. In particular, it looks at how State-NGO relations, civil society, and accountability affect the success of international NGOs in enacting change in domestic policy. The focus is on four countries with some of the largest human rights and environmental abuses: Argentina, China, India, and Russia. Through these countries, this thesis shows that NGOs have the most influence when State-NGO relations are strong, civil society is active, and NGOs are accountable to both the State and citizens. A key component to the success of international NGOs is the State’s willingness to change. When a NGOs interests align with the State, NGOs are able to push for and achieve the largest results. The contrast between the success of human rights and environmental NGOs highlights this as many times States will not recognize their human rights abuses, but are willing to improve their environmental degradation. As a result, NGOs have been met with more success in advocating for change in environmental policy than human rights.

Terrorism, in one way or another, touches everyone's lives. Its affect could be as small as watching media stories on the nightly news and waiting longer in a security line at the airport or as significant as losing a loved one in an attack. As individuals come to grips with living with increased terrorist violence, individual nation-states and the international community have to prepare themselves to prevent, react to, and counter terrorism. This thesis examines whether international law provides an adequate framework for states victimized by terrorism to respond within the law. It highlights how international law currently addresses terrorism and the benefits and disadvantages of applying national and transnational criminal law and international human rights law compared with international humanitarian law to terrorism. Three case studies, the 11 September 2001 attacks on the United States, the 5 September 1972 attack against Israeli athletes in Munich, Germany, and the 11 March 2004 bombings of the train system in Madrid, Spain, investigate how international law has been used in actual terrorist incidents, lending insight into how international law has been interpreted and used in the face of terrorism. They also allow analysis of other factors besides international law that impact a victim-state's response. Finally, this thesis proposes criteria that can be weighed by victim-states and the international community in order to develop an appropriate response to terrorist incidents and recommendations for modifications to international law that will maintain international law's relevance as the international community fights terrorism. / Master of Arts

In a world shaped by the simultaneous forces of globalization and fragmentation, very few armed conflicts remain isolated from any foreign involvement and confined to the territory of one State. On the contrary, many begin as internal conflicts that gradually acquire international characteristics of varying degree and nature. Yet, the law of armed conflict forces each such conflict into one of two legal categories: it must either be a non-international, or an international armed conflict. Accordingly, the prevailing approach in the literature is to examine what type of conflict, if any, corresponds to a certain situation in reality at a given time. In contrast, this thesis opts for a dynamic approach, focussing on the combination of factors that transform a prima facie non-international armed conflict into an international armed conflict. It argues that four such modalities of internationalization have emerged thus far: (1) outside intervention; (2) State dissolution; (3) wars of national liberation; and (4) relative internationalization by way of recognition of belligerency, unilateral declarations, or special agreements. Since some situations feature more than two conflict parties, the thesis puts forward an autonomy-based interpretive model, which enables to determine whether such situations should be seen as a single internationalized armed conflict or a number of independent international and non-international armed conflicts. On the basis of this comprehensive map of conflict internationalization, the thesis turns to the effects brought about by this process. It analyses two areas of the law of armed conflict considered to be regulated differently in the two respective types of conflict, namely matters of combatant status and belligerent occupation. It argues that fighters belonging to non-State armed groups participating in internationalized armed conflicts are in principle eligible for combatant status and it proposes an interpretive model for the determination whether they in fact meet the relevant criteria in practice. Finally, the thesis argues in favour of the applicability of the law of belligerent occupation to internationalized armed conflicts. To substantiate this claim, it delineates the temporal, geographical, and personal scope of the law of occupation in such conflicts. In its totality, the thesis analyses the meaning, process, and effects of conflict internationalization and on this basis argues for a particular interpretation of the concept of internationalized armed conflict in international law.

- Sexual Violence against Women in Armed Conflicts - the Role of the International Criminal Tribunals The purpose of my thesis is to describe and analyse a development of a regulation in the international humanitarian law and international criminal law and the contribution of decision making of international criminal tribunals in former Yugoslavia and Rwanda with a special focus on sexual violence against women during armed conflict. The reason for my research is the fact that during armed conflict women worldwide are permanently exposed to danger of sexual violence and it is necessary to stress this issue continuously. The thesis is composed of seven chapters. Chapter One is introductory and describes the current state of sexual violence in armed conflict. Further it explains what fields of international law the sexual violence is subject to and it provides a structure of the thesis. Chapter Two examines the international humanitarian law. The chapter is subdivided into four parts. Part One deals with the international humanitarian law in general. Part Two characterises the specificity of sexual violence. Part Three analyses the development of norms protecting women under international humanitarian law until the adoption of the Geneva conventions in 1949. Part Four analyses the regulation in the...

The illegal targeting of healthcare in armed conflict is nothing new but its continuance and impunity at a time when the protection of it has formally never been higher, for instance through the UNSC Resolution 2286, motivated this study. Therefore, the thesis analyses how the illegal targeting of healthcare affect humanitarian actors operating in Yemen as well as the local population. How the population and humanitarian actors perceive and interpret the violent targeting of healthcare was explored as well.    This study is based on a quantitative and qualitative content analysis of 11 media outlets and 25 documents provided by humanitarian actors. As a theoretical framework the humanitarian principles, international humanitarian law and the politicisation of humanitarian aid were addressed. Moreover, securitization theory was used in order to explain how humanitarian actors securitize the targeting through language. The results show that consequences of the illegal targeting for humanitarian organisations are limited access to the field as well as the closing of facilities and withdrawal of staff due to security issues. For the Yemeni population consequences are a limited access to healthcare as well as a loss of trust in the safety of medical facilities and therefore they often take the decision to not seek medical care. The analysis shows that humanitarian actors present the illegal targeting as a threat to the survival of beneficiaries and connect this to their own organisational survival and through that securitize the illegal targeting.