Magister Legum - LLM / The question to be addressed in this study is whether the government of South Africa is doing enough to protect the rights of the accused from torture. This study will seek to analyse South Africa’s constitution and its requirements to protect individual human rights, as well as South Africa’s current legislative framework including the Prevention and Combating of Torture of Persons Act.

The practice of so-called diplomatic guarantees in recent international law The aim of this thesis is to analyze the practice of so-called diplomatic assurances (guarantees) in contemporary international law and its possible impact on existing obligations of States related to the protection of human rights, especially in relation to the ban on torture. Diplomatic assurances enable a transfer of an individual from one State to another. They include an undertaking of the State receiving an individual that he or she will be treated in accordance with the conditions set by the sending State, i.e. generally in accordance with the human rights obligations. However, it has recently received a great deal of public attention due to a number of suspicious returns of alleged terror suspects into the countries with poor human rights record including a record of torture. Consequently, the opinion criticizing the reliance on diplomatic assurances evolved describing diplomatic assurances as a tool how to circumvent current obligations of States under international human rights law. First part of this thesis provides a general overview of diplomatic assurances, their history, what are the advantages and disadvantages of diplomatic assurances and whether diplomatic assurances could be considered as treaties under...

The primary objective of this work is to provide a comprehensive view of the human rights protection system concerning the prohibition of torture, focusing specifically on its European regulation. On the way to fulfill this aim, the following three hypotheses were confirmed: the prohibition of torture is currently regulated at all levels of protection of human rights, namely the universal, regional and national levels; from a comparative perspective, the highest level of protection has been achieved within the European system; and the prohibition of torture has recently acquired a social dimension. This work provides a comprehensive view, of the prohibition of torture at present time, and analyzes the instruments and mechanisms created to date. The interpretation was put into historical context, which is highly important, not only because it provides an exhaustive insight into the regulation of this issue in different sources, but also because this approach helps to understand the regulation correctly and enables the interpretation and application of respective standards in an adequate manner. It also makes it possible to better predict future developments in this area. The most interesting part of this thesis is the section that questions whether the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment are...

Dans l’ordre juridique international, les organes de protection des droits de la personne sont de nature différente, indépendants et non hiérarchisés. Le phénomène du dialogue juridictionnel est une pratique spontanée qui consiste pour un organe de protection à intégrer dans le processus d’interprétation d’une disposition donnée, des éléments étrangers à son système, qu’il s’agisse de décisions ou d’instruments de protection émanant d’autres organes. Le dialogue est illustré avec la jurisprudence interprétée à l’aide de ces éléments extrasystémiques en matière de prohibition de la torture et autres peines ou traitements cruels, inhumains ou dégradants. Il est envisagé comme une technique interprétative permettant d’aboutir à des interprétations communes du contenu, du sens et de la portée de cette interdiction, bien que ces interprétations partagées puissent être extensives ou restrictives. L’étude interroge l’étendue et la teneur du pouvoir juridictionnel dans l’ordre juridique international ainsi que sa capacité à aboutir à une convergence normative en matière de protection des droits de la personne, qui découlerait d’une convergence interprétative. Implicitement, le dialogue joue le rôle d’un outil de régulation et de coordination qui s’impose spontanément dans la pratique interprétative des organes internationaux, contribuant à l’émergence d’un objectivisme jurisprudentiel. Ce dernier tend à s’opposer au volontarisme étatique dans un but de protection de l’ordre public international et de garantie des droits de la personne. / In the international legal order, international bodies protecting human rights are both of a different nature and independent. Judicial dialogue consists in referring to decisions or international instruments that are external sources to the system in which the international body has to exercise its power of interpretation. The example of the prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatments will be used to illustrate this spontaneous practice. Judicial dialogue is seen as an interpretive technique, allowing to reach common interpretations of the substance, the meaning and the scope of this prohibition, by reaching a normative convergence through the use of external sources that shows an interpretive convergence in the first place. Nevertheless, the use of external sources does not always lead to extensive interpretations since it can also highlight disagreements in which case restrictive interpretations are inevitable. Finally, it appears that the international jurisprudential dialogue can both contribute to coordinate and harmonize the application and interpretation of international human rights law in order to protect the international public order.