The advent of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) brought with it a · euphoric expectation of instantaneous transformation of the sub-region into a vibrant, viable economic haven for its inhabitants. Time and reality have since reduced this euphoria to disillusionment. This state of affairs has resulted in a lot of introspection leading to vital questions about the readiness and capacity of the member states to let go of their national sovereignty as a price for more meaningful regional integration. Embedded in this is the major question of how the labour law regimes have lent themselves to change and whether they can be transformed into engines of growth that can facilitate employment within internationally acceptable environments. To attempt to answer this question, one needs to examine closely the individual domestic situations in order to determine how strong differences are in the context of international labour standards such as the very basic freedom of association and protection of the right to organise. The examination of • Botswana and Swaziland was therefore undertaken for this purpose. It has led us to the conclusion that essentially, labour legislation in these countries is common in many significant respects, unwilling to approximate to expected international standards but flexible enough for potential harmonization and transformation. This dissertation is however fairly inconclusive given the size of the SADC itself. It is therefore only a pointer, a part of the critical foundation of enquiry. It is thus only part of the preliminary survey for the roadmap that needs to be drawn on which a workable integration in the SADC could be built in the future.

Too many people analyse the concept of negative liberty in a way that obscures its place and significance in our lives. Here I seek to redress the balance by shining light on its structure and value. With respect to the essential structure of negative liberty and unfreedom, I push for a more intuitive, dynamic, and subjectivist agent-centred approach in place of the more mechanistic Hobbesian and austere Hayekian conceptions that have tended to predominate. Emphasising the importance of self-direction, authenticity and self-development to liberty delivers both a more coherent negative concept internally, and a notion that is more compellingly distinguished from its positive counterpart. Regarding liberty's relationship with coercion and manipulation, my explanation is that rational and emotional compulsion constrains negative liberty because it interferes with options and restricts freedom of choice. With respect to the significance of negative freedom and why we care about it, I consider its general, content-independent value to lie in its contributions to autonomy as well as to values more often associated with positive freedom such as individuality and self-realisation. Harnessing Mill's thesis, I highlight the importance of self-understanding and self-knowledge in the process of self-development, and explain from a non-utilitarian angle the nature of the negative opposition to paternalism and control.

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<p>There is a lacuna in our understanding of what it is to have legal human right. While moral philosophers frequently address what it is to have a human right, qua human, and legal philosophers discuss what it is that constitutes a legal right, it is not yet clear what it is to have a legal human right distinct from these pursuits. It is generally agreed that not all human rights in the international practice are legal rights for everyone. Legal effectiveness is largely dependent on treaty ratification and domestic commitments. However, this inequality in the effectiveness of legally claimable rights poses a crucial problem for the international practice of human rights, which takes universality and the demands for equitable treatment as central aims of that practice. This dissertation aims to examine this problem and to discuss the state of the emerging legal practice of human rights. It offers a measure, through a standard of adjudicability, for recognizing when legal human rights claims have become effective. The goal is to provide clarity on how this legal practice of human rights might properly emerge in keeping with its own founding principles.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rutgers University, 2009. / "Graduate Program in Philosophy." Includes bibliographical references (p. 151-153).

Since 1995 the South African Constitutional Court has contended that it would no longer entertain only Western thought and legal thinking but also African law and legal thinking as the values of all sections of society must be taken into account in South Africaâs open and democratic society. The Court acknowledged ubuntu as part of South Africaâs jurisprudence and fused Western and African jurisprudence into a new South African ârainbowâ jurisprudence. But beneath this miraculous fusion lies a volatile philosophical relationship of two ancient patriarchal philosophies which resulted in the erosion of African values and innumerable injustices against the African Other. Like Greek philosophy, Western philosophy has always been plagued by philosophical prejudice towards women, slaves and barbarians. Racism, however, only entered the equation of Western philosophy when the West had to justify their trade in twenty million African men, women and children as African chattel slaves in the seventeenth century. This crime against humanity was justified in the name of Christianity by philosophers and clergy alike. Whilst the Enlightenment philosophers proclaimed human equality and individual liberties in the eighteenth century they also fuelled a ânew racismâ which stereotyped Africans as inferior and subhuman. Not only did the Otherness of Africans result in racial segregation in the United States of America in 1883, it also legitimised Western colonisation of the âDark Continentâ. Under the banner of the cross, Western colonial powers embarked on their Christian civilising mission of the African continent: destroying African trade patterns, ancestral lands, self government, tribal systems, African law, cultures, belief systems and values. It was, however, not these factors, the colonial genocides in Congo Free State and German South-West Africa or Apartheid South Africaâs crime against humanity which resulted in the lingering inferiority complex Africans experience on the African continent, but the most destructive weapon wielded by the West: the âcultural bombâ, which eroded African values. The publication of Templeâs Bantu Philosophy in 1945 did not only bring proof that traditional Africans have a collective philosophy but also sparked a heated international and national philosophical debate. In an attempt to structure the discourse on African philosophy Oruka introduced his six trends in African philosophy. According to Oruka, ethnophilosophy (or ubuntu) represents the collective philosophy, or ubuntu, of either an African community or Africa as a whole; sage philosophy illustrates that rational thought prevails in philosophical sages; political philosophy contains the liberation philosophies of African leaders who envisaged the rekindling of eroded traditional African values; Negritude is described as the âsum total of African valuesâ; professional African philosophy is African philosophy in the strict sense produced by African philosophers; the hermeneutical approach attempts to reconstruct African reality in post-colonial Africa; and the literary trend illustrates the devastating effect of Western subjugation of the African Other. The debate on African philosophy illustrates that there is no homogenous way of African thinking and that professional African philosophers, modern Africans, African theologians and African feminists reject traditional African modes of thought. The Constitutional Court claims ubuntu values are in line with the Constitution in general and the Bill of Rights in particular but this study brings evidence to the contrary. Not only are ubuntu values represented in traditional Africaâs closed, strong communitarian societies unique and not universal, but ubuntu âmoral philosophyâ proves to be a religious philosophy. Whilst sec. 15(1) of the Constitution guarantees freedom of religion one has to question why the Court entertains a religious philosophy such as ubuntu in its deliberations and not other religious philosophies. The Constitutional Court, African Renaissance, the Moral Regeneration Movement, the Ubuntu Pledge, the Heartlines Project and other programmes throughout South Africa aspire to revive ubuntuâs eroded traditional African values. African feminists, African theologians and modern Africans reveal that ubuntu fuels inequalities, sexism and xenophobia and that ubuntu does not comply with sec. 39(1) of the Constitution. Ubuntu is neither in line with international or regional human rights and gender mechanisms nor âthe Constitution in general and the Bill of Rights in particularâ.

South Africa has an extensive heterogeneous population where drastic and far-reaching differences regarding community values and acceptability norms exist. These are emphasised by the serious imbalances regarding socio-economic circumstances. The late establishment of a democracy in South Africa was preceded by a traumatic period of intense suffering among a large section of the population. One great advantage of South Africa becoming a democracy at such a late stage is the fact that the country could learn from the political and constitutional successes and failures of other countries. This aided the establishment of a new order to ensure justice and stability for all South Africans. The final Constitution was developed after five years of intense negotiations. To address imbalances of the past, the Legislator deemed it necessary to write the concept administrative justice into Section 33 of the Constitution. This is currently a fundamental human right which is a right every citizen is entitled to. The concept administrative justice contained in Section 33 of the Constitution and its concretisation in the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act are certainly not perfect in all respects, but, in spite of this, is a significant effort on the part of the Legislator to create a basis for peace, justice, political tolerance and prosperity in South Africa. The foundation was built according to a concept of administrative justice which can develop further. In this thesis the constitutional embodiment of administrative justice is analysed through various approaches. A critical analysis is made with specific reference to case law as well as legislation. The emphasis is placed on the review aspects as mentioned in the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act, and developmental aspects of the concept will be investigated further. Attention is paid to the history preceding the current concept of justice. This will reveal both the essence and the problems surrounding this concept that has been around for years. A closer investigation of the practical application and influence of administrative justice on the private law fields, more specifically, the law of delict and contractual law will shed further light on the concept of justice. The concept administrative justice does not only belong to the state-subject relationship, i.e. vertical application of understanding, but also has an impact on the relationships of the private individual or institutions â the so-called horizontal application. The embodiment of the concept administrative justice in legislation caused a drastic change in the approach of the courts to the application of justice. The application of the courts of legislation, such as the "ouster clauses", and the disadvantage it has for the individual now belongs to the past. The focus of this thesis falls on key elements pertaining to the concept of justice, namely, lawfulness, reasonableness and procedural equity. However, there is much cause for concern of state institutions and different bodies being excluded in the definition of administrative action in the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act. It has the potential to become a powerful barrier in the future development of administrative justice. It is clear that all administrative action should firstly be tested to the definition before concentrating on its different review grounds. The definition of an administrative action is compiled from three different definitions and is, as such, interpreted with difficulty by the general civil servant in his/her daily action in the workplace. A further development of the above-mentioned act and the provision of a guideline, such as the Code of Good Conduct and the implementation of courts specialising in administrative law, will be welcomed to help further establish and develop the concept administrative justice. In essence, this thesis attempts to critically analyse the concept administrative justice in Section 33 of the Constitution with specific reference in its concretisation in the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act.

Since its independence in 1991, Eritrea has seen egregious violations of human rights and humanitarian law. This study examines the perpetration of international crimes in Eritrea between 24 May 1991 and 30 May 2008. A factual and legal analysis of the major incidents and events that took place during the above period of time reveals that crimes against humanity, war crimes and crimes of aggression have been perpetrated in Eritrea in an alarming manner affecting hundreds of thousands of people. In most cases, human rights violations have been perpetrated under a clear and premeditated government plan of persecution and repression of political dissent and certain religious convictions. Although some of the incidents discussed in this work appear to be sporadic events occurring only in a specified time and with a specific objective, most of the violations portray a clear, coherent, systematic and comprehensive government policy of repression. The widespread and systematic violation of human rights in Eritrea constitutes crimes against humanity as defined by the relevant provisions of international law. There are also violations perpetrated in the context of the 1996 Eritrea-Yemen border conflict, the 1998-2000 Eritrea-Ethiopia border conflict, as well as other incidents of internal and international armed conflicts. These cases portray categories of crimes perpetrated with political motive of a cross-country nature. It is concluded that a certain group of highranking government officials can be tentatively identified as the most responsible perpetrators and accordingly they bear individual criminal responsibility for serious violations of international law since 1991. To end the culture of impunity, this study proposes that international criminal justice, administered by the International Criminal Court, foreign municipal courts, or national or mixed tribunals, should be instituted. However, in the event of a negotiated and peaceful political transition, conditional amnesty administered by a democratically constituted truth and reconciliation commission is also regarded as an acceptable option.