Despite the fact that albinism affects several South Africans, it is a condition that remains deeply misunderstood. Albinism is steeped in myth and false notions, and is perceived by many as a curse and contamination. For years, persons living with albinism have been treated with doubt and suspicion. Also in schools and in the wider community, children with albinism are subjected to violence and ridicule. In certain areas on the African continent, including Southern Africa, persons living with albinism are killed for the trade in body parts for use as sacramental medicines, or sexually assaulted as a result of the belief that raping them may offer a cure for HIV/AIDS. All of this highlights the extreme vulnerability of persons living with albinism, not to mention the many violations of their fundamental rights that follow from the manner in which they are treated. Within the social context that frames the experience of persons living with albinism, the primary purpose of this study is to highlight some of the pertinent challenges faced by persons living with albinism in South Africa which compromise the full enjoyment of their fundamental rights as enshrined in the South African Constitution. The thesis makes a number of practical recommendations that will assist in promoting the legal position of this vulnerable group, while also contributing to a better understanding of albinism in general which will ultimately change negative perceptions and debunk the myths surrounding the condition. / Jurisprudence / LL. D.

The dissertation critically examines and compares the decisions of the Constitutional Court and the High Courts in cases dealing with the right to life, as contained in section 11 of the Constitution of South Africa Act 108 of 1996. The dissertation analysis the issues of adjudication and the concept of justice in perspective. The main question is as follows: Are the Constitutional Court decisions objective, based on the interpretation of the constitutional text, or do they rather reflect the individual judge(s) personal perspective(s) or preference(s). The purpose of this dissertation is to undertake a comparative study and analysis of the Constitutional Court decisions on the right to life, same aspect from different perspective, and show that the right to life is not given proper effect to on account of the subjective approach to its interpretation undertaken by the judges. It examines and scrutinises the Constitutional Court’s adjudication process. It found that the law is indeterminable, because the court’s decisions are not based on the interpretation of the law, but on the individual judges’ background and personal preferences. This is so because the court uses the majority rule principle in its decisions: The perception of the majority of the judges becomes a decision of the court. It is argued that when taking a decision a judge does not apply the law but instead uses the law to justify his predetermined decision on the matter. The conclusion supports the critical legal scholars’ theory relating to the indeterminacy of the law. It tests the objectivity of the judges using their own previous decisions. / Criminal & Procedural Law / LLM

The objective of this thesis is to assess the impact and influence of South Africa's Constitutional Court in the first two years of our democracy. To achieve this objective, some of the definitive and controversial cases already decided by the Court have been selected and analysed in an attempt to glean some jurisprudential perspectives of the Court. It focuses on the work of the Court over the past two years. It deals with the evolution of South Africa into a democracy, and analyzes the South African legal system prior to the beginning of the process of transformation. It briefly surveys the evolution of our constitutional system, dating back from the pre-1910 colonial period and provides a broad outline of the legal system in the post-April 1994 period of transformation. It analyzes the Court from the point of view of, inter alia, its composition, jurisdiction and powers. The Court is also contrasted with courts in other jurisdictions which exercise full judicial review. The Court's emerging jurisprudence is examined. A review is made, inter alia, of the Court's understanding of, and approach to, the questions of the values underpinning the post-apartheid society and its constitutional system, and constitutional interpretation. The right against self-incrimination and South African company law and the two relevant Constitutional Court cases are discussed. The collection of evidence by the State and the constitutionality of provisions relating to search and seizure and the taking of fingerprints are looked into. The Court's approach to statutory presumptions and criminal prosecutions; some aspects of our appeals procedures; an accused's right to be assisted by a lawyer at state expense; the question of a fair trial and access to information; capital punishment; corporal punishment; committal to prison for debt; and the certification of constitutions is analyzed. Two of the cases in which the provinces clashed with the national government on the distribution of posers between provinces and the national government are discussed. The conclusion is that the Court has, overall, hitherto acquitted itself well in the handling of particularly the controversial quasi-political questions that arose in the cases it has decided. / Constitutional, International & Indigenous Law / L.L. D. (Law)

Les Québécois sont de plus en plus conscients de l’environnement qui les entoure et de l’importance d’en assurer la qualité et la pérennité. Certains phénomènes, tels les changements climatiques, l’accumulation de polluants organiques persistants et l’amincissement de la couche d’ozone, que nous qualifierons de phénomènes environnementaux diffus, sont engendrés par de multiples émetteurs de polluants et ont des effets globaux qui ne peuvent être liés à un événement précis et dont les impacts sont difficiles à identifier et à quantifier pour le moment. En l’absence de preuve quant aux effets qu’auront ces phénomènes diffus sur les citoyens et les difficultés liées à la preuve scientifique du lien causal entre ce dommage et un émetteur de polluant donné, les recours classiques en responsabilité civile et pour troubles de voisinage, prévus aux articles 1457 et 976 C.c.Q., apparaissent inopérants. Nous nous interrogeons donc sur l’existence d’un droit à l’environnement qui conférerait aux citoyens le droit de vivre dans un environnement sain et leur permettrait ainsi de réclamer que cesse toute atteinte environnementale engendrée par ces phénomènes, même si elle n’a pas d’effet directement sur eux. Considérant l’importance de l’efficacité des recours qui pourraient permettre une mise en œuvre de ce droit, nous procéderons à l’analyse de trois sources potentielles d’un droit à l’environnement sous cet angle. À cet effet, nous étudierons les recours constitutionnels et quasi-constitutionnels liés à la Charte canadienne des droits et libertés, à la Charte des droits et libertés de la personne et au recours institutionnel prévu dans la Loi sur la qualité de l’environnement. Considérant l’absence de reconnaissance suffisante d’un droit à l’environnement et de recours efficaces pour en assurer la mise en œuvre, nous proposerons ensuite des pistes de solution afin que puisse être développé un mécanisme permettant une réponse judiciaire aux phénomènes environnementaux diffus. / The quality of the environment has become a growing concern in the recent years for Quebec citizens. Phenomena such as climate change, persistent organic pollutants and the depletion of the ozone layer are caused by several sources, the effects of which cannot be distinguished one from the other and/or linked to a specific event. Furthermore, these phenomena have yet to create damage to Quebec residents in order to create the necessary standing for the introduction of legal proceedings. Also, the scientific uncertainty related to the source of potential damage and to the proof of said damage makes it impossible to legally attack the emitters of the pollutant contributing to this type of environmental phenomena under 1457 C.C.Q. or 976 C.C.Q. We have identified the 3 potential sources of a right to a clean environment which could entitle Quebec citizens to go before the courts in environmental matters, even in the absence of specific damages to their person or property. We have analysed the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms and the Environmental Quality Act and looked at the potential right to a clean environment possibly contained therein and the legal actions that could be taken to ensure their respect. Considering the weakness of what our legal system had to propose, we have developed solutions that could be put forward in order to allow the war against climate change and other environmental phenomena of the same nature to become legally actionable.

Thesis: Abortion in the light of case law of European Court of Human Rights This thesis focuses on the legal regulation of abortion in selected European countries in order to find single European standard. It concentrates primarily on issues of assessing violations of particular articles of the Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms by the European Court of Human Rights or former European Commission of Human Rights in relation to specific cases associated with abortion. Abortion means the deliberate termination of pregnancy by means of surgery or administration of drugs to induce abortion. Abortion is a major ethical issue that raises number of discussions and disputes. The complexity of the problem is due to the fact that on the one hand there is the mother's right to freely decide to terminate or continue the pregnancy and on the other hand, there is considerable right of the embryo/foetus to life. The whole text of the thesis is interwoven with finding a balance between these competing interests of women and the unborn child based on my own opinion or the opinion of the international judicial body. It analyzes two main approaches, which are pro-choice approach in favour of women's freedom of choice, and pro- life approach arguing that the foetus has right to life. Both approaches...

The dissertation critically examines and compares the decisions of the Constitutional Court and the High Courts in cases dealing with the right to life, as contained in section 11 of the Constitution of South Africa Act 108 of 1996. The dissertation analysis the issues of adjudication and the concept of justice in perspective. The main question is as follows: Are the Constitutional Court decisions objective, based on the interpretation of the constitutional text, or do they rather reflect the individual judge(s) personal perspective(s) or preference(s). The purpose of this dissertation is to undertake a comparative study and analysis of the Constitutional Court decisions on the right to life, same aspect from different perspective, and show that the right to life is not given proper effect to on account of the subjective approach to its interpretation undertaken by the judges. It examines and scrutinises the Constitutional Court’s adjudication process. It found that the law is indeterminable, because the court’s decisions are not based on the interpretation of the law, but on the individual judges’ background and personal preferences. This is so because the court uses the majority rule principle in its decisions: The perception of the majority of the judges becomes a decision of the court. It is argued that when taking a decision a judge does not apply the law but instead uses the law to justify his predetermined decision on the matter. The conclusion supports the critical legal scholars’ theory relating to the indeterminacy of the law. It tests the objectivity of the judges using their own previous decisions. / Criminal and Procedural Law / LL. M.

The main purpose of this work is to investigate if the US ́s killing of Osama bin Laden on 2 May 2011 in Abbottabad in Pakistan was lawful. The background to the killing is what happened on 11 September 2001 when four US airplanes were hijacked and crashed into World Trade Center and Pentagon. Al Qaeda, a terrorist organisation led by Osama bin Laden, was immediately suspected for the attacks, which led to the starting point of the US ́s ‘global war on terror’. This work tries to give a short brief on ‘global war on terror’ and answer if there is a global war on terror and/or if a new category of war is needed. In order to get an answer to the main question of this work I had to investigate if US is in an international armed conflict or in a non-international armed conflict with Al Qaida. Another important question to investigate is if an armed conflict in one State can spill over to another State and still be consider as an armed conflict. Other important questions to answer are, if Osama bin Laden was a legitimate target under international humanitarian law, if he was a civilian or if he had a continuous combat function and what level of participation in hostilities he had? Not less important is also to investigate if human rights law is applicable when Osama bin Laden was killed, especially the fundamental right to life. Lastly I end my investigation with a quick review of the laws of jus ad bellum in order to get an answer if US had a right to resort to force in Pakistan. My conclusion is that the US was not involved in an armed conflict with al Qaeda in Pakistan where the killing took place. The conflict between the US and al Qaeda in Afghanistan is to be categorised as a non-international conflict. This conflict cannot be described as a conflict that has spilled over to Abbottabad where Osama bin Laden was killed. All people, including Osama bin Laden, has a right to life. Because of lack of information on what happened in Abbottabad when Osama bin Laden was killed it is impossible to give a clear legal answer if the US had the right to kill him. It could be lawful, but it could also be considered as a crime against international human rights law.

Les Québécois sont de plus en plus conscients de l’environnement qui les entoure et de l’importance d’en assurer la qualité et la pérennité. Certains phénomènes, tels les changements climatiques, l’accumulation de polluants organiques persistants et l’amincissement de la couche d’ozone, que nous qualifierons de phénomènes environnementaux diffus, sont engendrés par de multiples émetteurs de polluants et ont des effets globaux qui ne peuvent être liés à un événement précis et dont les impacts sont difficiles à identifier et à quantifier pour le moment. En l’absence de preuve quant aux effets qu’auront ces phénomènes diffus sur les citoyens et les difficultés liées à la preuve scientifique du lien causal entre ce dommage et un émetteur de polluant donné, les recours classiques en responsabilité civile et pour troubles de voisinage, prévus aux articles 1457 et 976 C.c.Q., apparaissent inopérants. Nous nous interrogeons donc sur l’existence d’un droit à l’environnement qui conférerait aux citoyens le droit de vivre dans un environnement sain et leur permettrait ainsi de réclamer que cesse toute atteinte environnementale engendrée par ces phénomènes, même si elle n’a pas d’effet directement sur eux. Considérant l’importance de l’efficacité des recours qui pourraient permettre une mise en œuvre de ce droit, nous procéderons à l’analyse de trois sources potentielles d’un droit à l’environnement sous cet angle. À cet effet, nous étudierons les recours constitutionnels et quasi-constitutionnels liés à la Charte canadienne des droits et libertés, à la Charte des droits et libertés de la personne et au recours institutionnel prévu dans la Loi sur la qualité de l’environnement. Considérant l’absence de reconnaissance suffisante d’un droit à l’environnement et de recours efficaces pour en assurer la mise en œuvre, nous proposerons ensuite des pistes de solution afin que puisse être développé un mécanisme permettant une réponse judiciaire aux phénomènes environnementaux diffus. / The quality of the environment has become a growing concern in the recent years for Quebec citizens. Phenomena such as climate change, persistent organic pollutants and the depletion of the ozone layer are caused by several sources, the effects of which cannot be distinguished one from the other and/or linked to a specific event. Furthermore, these phenomena have yet to create damage to Quebec residents in order to create the necessary standing for the introduction of legal proceedings. Also, the scientific uncertainty related to the source of potential damage and to the proof of said damage makes it impossible to legally attack the emitters of the pollutant contributing to this type of environmental phenomena under 1457 C.C.Q. or 976 C.C.Q. We have identified the 3 potential sources of a right to a clean environment which could entitle Quebec citizens to go before the courts in environmental matters, even in the absence of specific damages to their person or property. We have analysed the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms and the Environmental Quality Act and looked at the potential right to a clean environment possibly contained therein and the legal actions that could be taken to ensure their respect. Considering the weakness of what our legal system had to propose, we have developed solutions that could be put forward in order to allow the war against climate change and other environmental phenomena of the same nature to become legally actionable.

Within the Surinamese jurisdiction the Constitution grants women the right to health and imposes a legal duty on the state to facilitate the realization of this right. Also treaty law, in particular, the ICESCR article 12 and the CEDAW article 12 grant women the right to the highest attainable standard of health and the right to non-discriminatory access to healthcare. But due to the criminal law applicable to abortion women lack non-discriminatory access to reproductive healthcare and therefore do not enjoy the highest attainable standard of pregnancy related health. Despite its decision not to enforce the abortion prohibiting criminal laws, Suriname remains in a state of failure to comply with its legal duties as imposed by the Constitution and treaty law. This, due to the state’s reluctance to repeal the criminal laws on abortion and its failure to enact effective health regulations to facilitate women in need of an abortion.

Within the Surinamese jurisdiction the Constitution grants women the right to health and imposes a legal duty on the state to facilitate the realization of this right. Also treaty law, in particular, the ICESCR article 12 and the CEDAW article 12 grant women the right to the highest attainable standard of health and the right to non-discriminatory access to healthcare. But due to the criminal law applicable to abortion women lack non-discriminatory access to reproductive healthcare and therefore do not enjoy the highest attainable standard of pregnancy related health. Despite its decision not to enforce the abortion prohibiting criminal laws, Suriname remains in a state of failure to comply with its legal duties as imposed by the Constitution and treaty law. This, due to the state’s reluctance to repeal the criminal laws on abortion and its failure to enact effective health regulations to facilitate women in need of an abortion.