The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the wider Gulf region is an epicentre for global business. A hallmark of this prosperous oil-producing region is the reliance it has on migrant workers sourced from South Asia. Unfortunately these largely unskilled migrant workers have been subjected to poor employment practise and due to their vulnerability they experience an unprecedented amount of employment disputes. A combination of the UAE’s immigration and labour law manages not only the entry and stay of these migrant workers but also the avenues available for resolving their employment disputes. Furthermore, it is these policies and their enactment that have become the focus of international criticism for failing to provide the necessary protection to migrant workers from unscrupulous employers. This study has examined these domestic policies in light of both international and Islamic law and has advocated a case for reform. Moreover, the fieldwork conducted includes a detailed quantitative investigation based on the opinions of migrant workers into the challenges presented by the nature of the UAE’s employment dispute management systems. The results have shown that the employment dispute resolution system has yielded some negative outcomes showing that the service provided by the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation is in need to continual review and assessment. Although the UAE has been taking positive steps to remedy the issues migrant workers have been experiencing, it is anticipated that this research can be a positive driver for empowering that process.

This research analyses, by using legal doctrinal and comparative methods, non-traditional regular purchasing arrangements (NTRPA) in seven public procurement systems carefully selected to ensure a wide coverage: the UNCITRAL Model Law on Public Procurement (2011), the World Bank, the US federal procurement system, the EU system and three EU Member States: UK, Romania and France. We define NTRPA as arrangements designed to meet on-going, recurrent or indefinite requirements for a long-term period through purchasing from the free market, and where the parties, at the initiative of the purchaser, go through a number of procedural stages (for example, 'suitability') and/or establish some contractual terms, but not all, in advance of the moment when an actual need for specific items arises, followed by placement of subsequent contracts or orders whenever the actual needs for items arise, based on the procedural stages conducted in advance, or based on the terms agreed beforehand. Such arrangements include, for example, framework agreements, dynamic purchasing systems and qualification systems (in the EU), and indefinite delivery contracts and multiple-award schedules (in the US). The varied terminology reflects the even wider variety of the arrangements themselves and of the approaches that legal instruments take in regulating them. The research examines how NTRPA are regulated in selected procurement systems, why they are regulated as they are, and assesses considerations that tend to promote or detract from fulfilment of certain objectives of the regulation of NTRPA. A common structure related to the 'core' elements of the underlying commercial process of such 'transactions' is used both for the examination of individual arrangements in each system and for wider comparative perspectives amongst them. By 'de-constructing' NTRPA as currently regulated into basic elements by reference to the 'core' commercial purchasing process, a corpus of guidance and a perspective are 're-constructed' regarding: (i) relevant landmarks for regulating NTRPA by reference to the particular objectives envisaged by individual procurement systems; and (ii) relevant landmarks for interpretation by practitioners, particularly from a teleological point of view, in areas where existing legislation or regulations applicable to their procurement systems are silent, inconsistent or unclear. 'Relevant landmarks' refer to aspects worth being considered in a wide context by policy makers, legislators or practitioners when introducing or reviewing public procurement regulation regarding NTRPA, or when actually implementing such arrangements. These landmarks do not refer to (and do not imply) a 'single recipe' for non-traditional regular purchases, but to an 'orientation guide' to quite complex a phenomenon.

This thesis analyses the notion of control in the law of military occupation. It addresses the following research question: what does control denote and what are its implications for military occupation? More specifically, it demonstrates that in present-day occupations, control as such occurs in different forms and variations. The polymorphic features of occupation can be seen in the way states establish control over territory either directly or indirectly, and in the manner in which they retain, relinquish or regain it. The thesis also evidences that control found in Geneva Convention IV 1949 affords the most favourable and practicable protection to civilians and comes forward with a very adaptable application with the view of enhancing and reinforcing the protection of civilians. The thesis encompasses five chapters. Chapter I deals with control in general international law, revealing that different forms of control are used by different branches of international law for different purposes. Chapter II offers a clear test for establishing control over territory for the purposes of military occupation in International Humanitarian Law. Chapter III untangles the concept of indirect effective control, which gives rise to situations of military occupation by an intermediary. Chapter IV deals with relinquishing control over territory, thus establishing a test for occupation ending, determining the end of occupation to be at variance with assessing its beginning. Finally, Chapter V analyses the effect of control on a state’s substantive obligations both under International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law.

Far-reaching reforms are influencing every aspect of governance within the People’s Republic of China, including in its criminal justice system. Against this backdrop, this thesis critically considers current concerns regarding torture and other ill-treatment in China. It assesses to what extent persistent allegations of ill-treatment of detainees indicate endemic practices; examines the effectiveness of nascent torture prevention measures and identifies the factors that may enable resilience of abuse. Overall, it investigates whether torture prevention is effective within the PRC legal framework or whether it can become so on the current reform trajectory. To do so, the thesis sets out the scope of available legal protections against torture and ill-treatment in China, and assesses these in light of international law requirements so as to identify protection gaps and broader obstacles to prevention. The analysis examines these through the lens of three different justice processes: the criminal, administrative and Party. These are representative of China’s wider criminal justice system and the different routes through which persons can be deprived of their liberty. The analysis finds that while the criminal justice system is becoming more regulated, even here protection gaps remain. In the administrative and Party justice processes, almost all key safeguards against torture are missing: these remain legally ‘grey’ spheres. All three justice processes thus fail to protect every category of detainee and torture and ill-treatment continue. The thesis identifies the key factors contributing to the resilience of torture and ill-treatment in China and the required reforms. The analysis concludes that while China is taking significant steps towards preventing torture and ill-treatment, these have insecure foundations and suffer from fundamental deficiencies that can only be addressed by further legal, structural, institutional and political reform. This China case study can provide valuable lessons for other countries where ill-treatment has become endemic.

No description available.

As the government of Saudi Arabia begins a major evolutionary process of economic expansion, the Saudi stock market has become the focus of increased attention. The legal framework that regulates the stock market is still considered to be underdeveloped, as only recently, in 2003, did the Saudi legislator issue a Capital Market Law (2003) and create a regulatory body vested with its enforcement. The securities market was built around this legislation, which helped to stimulate the economy by attracting investor. However, the Saudi stock market experienced a big crash in February 2006, which had a profound impact in heavy losses for large and small investors. The practical application of these new laws brought to light some shortcomings in the regulations of the stock market, and specifically, the need for the legal protection of investor. Hence, the overarching aim of this thesis is to focus particular on four issues: on the question of whether or not the existing regulations of the Saudi stock market adequately protects investor from poor disclosure, insider trading and market manipulation induced partly by market brokers. Thus, there are four primary objectives of this thesis: to enhance the effectiveness of existing rules to secure a suitable level of protection for investor against poor disclosure, market abuse and illegal practices by broker; to increase investor confidence and attractiveness of the market; to prevent a future repeat of the stock market collapse and avoid the steps that caused it; and finally, to provide useful material for Saudi Capital Market Law (2003) reforms in the future. In order to examine these sensitive issues, the thesis will first examine whether or not the disclosure regulations of the Saudi stock market provide adequate protection to investor and secondly assess the effectiveness of the legal framework of insider trading regulations for preventing insider trading. Third, it will ascertain how well the the law defines market manipulation and covers the most common forms of market manipulation under Saudi securities law. Lastly it will explore the responsibility that brokers in the Saudi stock market have to achieve the greatest degree of protection for investor.

This thesis studies the role of derivative claims in the English legal system in the context of protecting the company as a separate legal personality, through both the shareholders and employees acting as the derivative claim applicants. In spite of the aim of the English Law Commission to change the derivative claim to a more affordable and more accessible mechanism in the UK, still the current overly restricted approach to this mechanism prevents it to play an effective role in protecting the company. The academic literature brings several factors including the availability of other mechanisms of protection for shareholders, the cost of the derivative claim and the ambiguities in the procedural requirements as the reasons for the ineffectiveness of the derivative claim. This research argues that the derivative claim is the only direct mechanism of protection for the company as a separate legal personality, and that protection of the company extends beyond the protection of its shareholders. Therefore, the hurdles in the way of efficiency of the derivative claim should be removed and it should become a more effective mechanism of protection for the company as a whole. Although the combination of other mechanisms of accountability for directors1 could discipline directors and provide an environment, in which the derivative claim is less needed, however, they have been designed to protect the personal interests of shareholders in the first instance and might not provide a potent protection for the company in all circumstances. This thesis argues that the derivative claim could work as a complementary mechanism and provide protection for the company in situations that the other mechanisms fail to do so. In order to enhance the protection of the company through the derivative claim, the thesis proposes that the scope of derivative claims’ applicants should be extended to employees. Employees have strong incentive to protect the company because they often invest in a company with their human capital, and are deeply dependent on the company well-being for their livelihoods and their pension benefits. In order to make the derivative claim a more affordable and accessible mechanism, the thesis proposes some reforms to derivative claim procedural requirements, including the shareholders ratification and the derivative claim costs. This thesis is a comparative study. The proposals for the derivative claim procedural requirements have been inspired by the derivative claim structures in the United States and New Zealand. The financial structure of the derivative claim in both countries has reduced the risk of the derivative claim for shareholders. Moreover, studying the role of the derivative claim in these jurisdictions confirms the thesis argument that although the availability of the other mechanisms of accountability could affect the need for the derivative claim, still the derivative claim has a role to play as a complementary mechanism.

The thesis seeks to examine the competitiveness of the methods by which beer has been distributed in the UK, particularly the beer tying agreement, with the objective of setting out recommendations for the future. In order to fulfil this objective, the thesis aims firstly to engage in a scholarly exercise of clarifying the role and purpose of the beer tie; the application of the EU competition law provisions to the brewing industry; and the UK Government’s approach to regulating it. Secondly, the thesis engages in comparative research and will consider how other non-UK markets have dealt with the distribution of beer, and more specifically the issue of the beer tie. In doing so, the thesis seeks to ascertain how competitive the UK market is in the context of these other geographical markets. The thesis will also compare the UK beer market with another UK market in which the use of tying agreements is prevalent in order to ascertain whether the same issues have been faced in this market as in the beer market. The intention of the comparative research in the thesis is to provide assistance to legal policy makers on the future regulation of beer distribution in the UK. The thesis does not however undertake to propose measures to achieve a state of perfect competition. Rather, it undertakes, as the third aim of the thesis, to propose informed recommendations that address better the ongoing anti-competitive concerns associated with the operation of the beer tie today and ensure a socially acceptable level of workable competition.

In 2002, private broadcasters started their own TV transmissions after the creation of the Pakistan Electronic Media Authority. This thesis seeks to identify the challenges to the Pakistan public and private electronic media sectors in terms of enforcement. Despite its importance and growth, there is a lack of research on the enforcement and regulatory supervision of the electronic media sector in Pakistan. This study examines the sector and identifies the action required to improve the current situation. To this end, it focuses on five aspects: (i) Institutional arrangements: institutions play a key role in regulating the system properly. (ii) Legislative and regulatory arrangements: legislation enables the electronic media system to run smoothly. It needs some more improvement as proposed in the thesis. (iii) International efforts: these efforts are very positive to enforce the broadcasting regulation at international level. It will also have a gradual effect on the national market. (iv) Current enforcement challenges: some current media enforcement issues are analysed for the first time in this thesis. (v) Regulatory Reforms: after the development of the technology, the broadcasting sector is now facing some significant regulation issues. These five aspects are examined in Chapters 2 to 4 respectively. These three chapters constitute the main part of the thesis.

This thesis assesses the new ASEAN Comprehensive Investment Agreement (ACIA) in the light of international practice. Investment protection is at the heart of this investment regime. Considering the ACIA as a tool of regional integration, its structure and contents demonstrate its ultimate objective of attracting intra-ASEAN investment flows for the realisation of a single market and production base under the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). Analysis focuses on the specific elements of the ACIA and how they balance two contradictory interests, i.e. the protection of ASEAN investors and the sovereignty of ASEAN Member States to regulate investments in their territory. Tracking the solutions and innovations of substantial and procedural provisions introduced by the ACIA, it is found that the “ASEAN Way” of consensus and flexibility remains, even though ASEAN has become the AEC with rules and institutions. This general ASEAN Way is specifically reflected in the “ASEAN Way of Investment Protection”. Given the ASEAN-specific context, the ACIA shows a unique balance of States’ and investors’ interests which differs from that of international investment agreements of other regional integration initiatives. While the ACIA aims to protect ASEAN investors, it attempts to respect the sovereignty of ASEAN Member States, by giving more policy space to regulate for public purposes. From these findings, recommendations are offered to improve the ASEAN investment regime. The understanding of the “ASEAN Way of investment protection” may help interpretation and application of investment protection standards of the ACIA, as well as the other existing investment agreements. The ACIA may also serve as a platform for negotiations of future ASEAN investment agreements.