Climate change is an inevitable scenario that already endangers millions of lives. The phenomenon occurs in an area of international law where there is an urgent need for international co-operation in order to solve the problem. It is a global problem that needs a global solution. Since treaty-based collaborations, aimed at battling the consequences of climate change, have been difficult to achieve or implement, the question arises whether the United Nations Security Council, with its ability to pass binding resolutions, could thus be a successful alternative to address the issues resulting from climate change. In contrast to conventional treatymaking, United Nations Security Council Resolution are often more efficient in their decision making as they require less compromise and can result in a stronger impact due to faster implementation.

Despite Zambia's ratification of several of international and regional human rights instruments, the country's domestic legislation frustrates its international obligations in so far as protection of asylum seekers human rights is concerned. Principally there are two main pieces of legislation which create this ‘quagmire,' but also make provision for the entry and exit of persons in Zambia, these are the Immigration and Deportation Act No. 18 of 2010 (hereinafter referred to as the Immigration Act) and the Refugees Act No. 1 of 2017 (hereinafter the Refugees Act). Although these two pieces of legislation apply to different types of migrants, there is a predisposition on the part of the authorities of enforcing immigration laws and not refugee laws on asylum seekers especially those found unlawfully present in country. This is in contravention of the non-penalisation clause under the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (hereinafter the 1951 Refugee Convention), which creates a dilemma for asylum seekers. Zambia has an international obligation to receive and not to expel asylum seekers present within its territory irrespective of their mode of entry, this responsibility emanates from Article 31(1) and Article 33(2) 1951 Refugee Convention. However, the misapplication of the Immigration Act on asylum seekers conflicts with this obligation.

The activities and the level of influence of International Organisations (IOs) have grown extensively in recent years. This has resulted in IOs having a greater impact, both positively and negatively, on the lives of individuals. In as far as the negative impact is concerned, it is a well established principal of international law that the wrongful conduct of an IO attracts the responsibility of that IO. The reality however is that holding IOs responsible for their wrongful acts is an uphill task. In this regard, there has been an increase in calls for more effective ways of holding IOs accountable for their actions. This thesis adds its voice to those calls. The point of departure however, is that in this thesis, the question of IO responsibility is approached from the perspective of the victims of the wrongful conduct of IOs. The call for greater effectiveness in holding IOs to account is made through an illustration of the difficulties faced by those attempting to seek redress for wrongs committed by IOs. Additionally, the thesis examines the role of domestic courts and institutions in holding IOs to account. This examination is necessary in light of the increasing trend of domestic and regional courts piercing the immunity veil of an IO, where that IO has not provided alternative dispute settlement mechanisms.

This research reviews the application of the law on the right of refugee children to education and the challenges inhibiting this right. Radical changes in the legal framework protecting refugee children's right to education has occurred since South Africa became a democratic state in 1994. The enactment of international law into the 1994 Constitution contributed into the protection of various children right and insured equal access into the education system. However, refugee children have been prejudiced in the right to access education based on numerous challenges. The lack of access education for refugee children is an unconstitutional practice in schools rather than a legislative injustice. This paper uses journal reports, newspaper articles, academic writing on both national and international perspective on the infringement of education rights on refugee children. The findings provide clarity on unconstitutional practices and the legal standpoint on such practices. The right to education constitutes a valuable foundation for integration. South Africa is obligated by both national and international law to provide immediate education to refugee children.

Includes bibliographical references / Edward Snowden is a hero. In 2013, he leaked what can arguably be considered as the greatest quantity of classified and top - secret foreign intelligence in history. The leak revealed the extent of pervasive global government surveillance that has been and continues to be conducted by foreign intelligence agencies such as the National Security Agency (NSA) in the United States and the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in the United Kingdom. His actions have led to international security sector reform of the international regulation of foreign intelligence liaison. Citizen Four, the 2015 Oscar award-winning documentary, is the story of Snowden. When asked by Glen Greenwald and Laura Poitras, the journalist and documentarian who covered his journey , why he did what he did, Snowden's response was that : '[I]t all comes down to state power against the people's ability to meaningfully oppose that power .. . if the policy switches that are the only thing that restrain these states were changed, you couldn't meaningfully oppose these ... that hardened me into action.' When closing a TED talk on how we take back the internet, Snowden's idea worth sharing was that: '... [D]emocracy may die behind closed doors but we as individuals are born behind those same closed doors ... We don't have to give up our privacy to have good government ... We don't have to give up our liberty to have security ... By working together, we can have both open government and private lives ... . ' The relationship between state power and people's opposition, the individual and democracy, privacy and good government, liberty and security are themes that run throughout this dissertation. They are thematic relationships that underlie the importance of the international regulation of foreign intelligence liaison. The international regulation of foreign intelligence liaison will continue to be shaped by these relationships. Chapter I picks up on these themes by reviewing the international regulation of foreign intelligence liaison as a phenomenon. Part II defines foreign intelligence, part III sets up the objectives of a regime for international law in liberal democracies, part IV recognises the challenges to effective oversight of foreign intelligence agencies and part V maps out different reasons for and uses and forms of foreign intelligence liaison. A core argument is that the inevitable abuse and misuse of foreign intelligence liaison should be regulated through a horizontal accountability mechanism as an international best practice. Chapter II focuses on the international regulation of foreign intelligence liaison through a legal analysis. It draws on the themes by summarising (part II) and critiquing (part III) two landmark judgments having the potential to set an international best - practice precedent that contributes to the international regulation of foreign intelligence liaison. The core argument is that communications interception warrants should be regulated by judicial pre-authorisation. This is a practical application of Chapter I's core theoretical argument mentioned above. Chapter III develops these themes by analysing the international regulation of foreign intelligence liaison through recommendations. Part II explores the regulation of signals intelligence (SIGINT) in South Africa. Part III sets out the national and regional applications of art 17 of the ICCPR with regard to private communications. Finally, by summarising and applying the core arguments of Chapters I and II to Chapter III, part IV recommends legal reform through a General Intelligence Laws Amendment Bill 2015 (the Bill).

On 30 October 2014 South Africa's Constitutional Court unanimously stated that the South African Police Service was obligated to investigate allegations of torture in Zimbabwe. This landmark decision, based on South Africa's international obligations and domestic legislation, is rooted in the Court's interpretation of universal jurisdiction and in particular its application of the presumption of the "anticipated presence" of the accused. The case, first heard in the North Gauteng High Court in 2012 before being taken on appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeal and Constitutional Court, concerned allegations of torture against ZANU-PF officials and Zimbabwean police during the run-up to elections in 2007. This final judgment imposes a binding obligation on the South African Police Service to investigate the allegations, prior to any decision on further prosecution. This dissertation begins by providing a background to South Africa's implementation of the Rome Statute domestically before focusing on the theoretical framework of universal jurisdiction. This is followed by an examination of the South African jurisprudence, in particular the judgment of the Constitutional Court in National Commissioner of the South African Police Service v Southern African Human Rights Litigation Centre and Another. The Constitutional Court's decision to allow for the exercise of universal jurisdiction in absentia (otherwise known as "anticipated presence") must be located within the broader concept of jurisdiction. Anticipated presence is a controversial issue and this paper will explain both the Court's reasoning as well as possible implications of this judgment. The fight against impunity for perpetrators of international crimes, emphasised by both the Rome Statute and South Africa's own legislation, has been strengthened by this judgment. This paper will also examine the remaining areas of concern which were not addressed by the Constitutional Court. This Constitutional Court judgment will define the approach of South African courts in forthcoming cases concerning the application of the Rome Statute. Despite the Constitutional Court's failure to take all factors into account in its judgment, this landmark decision has changed the legal landscape considerably and will be a powerful tool to counter the culture of impunity.

Since the twentieth century, the proliferation of new States has not declined in the twenty first century. Several small territories have declared themselves as sovereign States by claiming statehood in international law. These developments have a significant measure in many respects of international law notions of self-determination, secession, recognition and de-colonisation. A State remains a primary subject of international law. Despite the fundamental legal framework on the creation of States enshrined in the Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States 1933 (Montevideo Convention), the creation of States and unilateral secession remain part of the controversial and unsettled issues of international law. This is because of the legal and factual situation that evolves around the concept of State creation and unilateral secession. While the legal framework on State creation is in place, other new criteria continue to develop, alongside are the concepts of unilateral secession and self-determination. It therefore follows that in any given situation of contemporary international law, the concepts of State creation, secession and self-determination cannot be discussed in isolation. In this thesis, I will analyse the notions of statehood, secession and recognition. I will argue that in contemporary international law or post-colonial era, unilateral secession and satisfying the traditional criteria of statehood does not qualify the clamant entity to become a new State. Secondly, I will argue that although recognition is not a rule of customary international law, State practice on recognition and other suggested criteria play a significant role with regards to creation of States in international law. Thirdly, the Republic of Somaliland as a case study will be analysed against the criteria of statehood and the application thereof. The study will also provide a general analysis of a few specific cases of successful and unsuccessful attempts at secession.

The Southern African Development Community sees high levels of migration. Many children within these groups are undocumented and have no means to prove their identities. This greatly increases their risks of statelessness, which opens the way to abuse, exploitation, trafficking, and the inability to claim their human rights. Birth registration represents one of the main protections undocumented children have in avoiding statelessness, as this reduces their chances of abuse, as well as provides them with a better chance of accessing nationality. Providing nationality is also important in reducing statelessness, as birth registration is not enough on its own. Therefore, whether birth registration and nationality are available for undocumented migrants in SADC member states is examined within both the international and regional legal contexts. International human rights treaties go a long way in providing rights to birth registration and nationality, but the scope of these rights is not infinite. International law takes a strong stance on birth registration, as it is provided in many of the main treaties, as well as the fact that it is linked to the best interests of the child principle. The right to nationality on the other hand is generally understood to have restrictive application in that migrants do not have the right to the nationality of the host state, a state must just ensure that a child has the right to “a” nationality. This reduces the ambit of protection. In turning to the SADC, the region in general was found to have a number of barriers to birth registration and nationality. For birth registration, gender discriminatory laws, centralised organisational structures, the COVID-19 lockdown, and penalties for late registration were counted as among the leading barriers to registration. This was similarly the case for South Africa and Zambia which were two key country profiles analysed. For nationality, there were many gaps in protection, such as uneven protection for foundlings and children who would otherwise be stateless, as well as onerous barriers to naturalisation. Given these findings, this dissertation concluded that SADC members are not adequately giving effect to their international obligations

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Since the establishment of the National Human Rights Commission (“NHRC”) of Nigeria, high expectations that the commission will ensure effective protection of human rights have dwindled due to pervasive human rights violations. Of great concern is that the security agencies in Nigeria, particularly the police who are empowered under the law to ensure obedience to law and order, often engage in unlawful arrest and detention. This thesis offers a comparative legal analysis of human rights norms and institutions in Nigeria and Canada, with a particular focus on the issue of unlawful arrest and detention. It argues that NHRCs have been unable to effectively address unlawful arrests and detentions by the Nigeria police, and that Nigeria can borrow from Canada’s human rights system to improve her human rights institutions and practices, especially with regard to arrest and detention. It also offers recommendations from the lessons drawn from Canada’s human rights system. / May 2016