This thesis examines the ways in which development actors respond to and interpret a Rights-Based Approach (RBA) to development. It draws on a case study undertaken over a period of more than two years in Pakistan. The central research vehicle is a capacity-building process on RBA involving around 300 development professionals. The thesis examines the different responses to and understandings of RBA emerging in the case study, whether there are indications of changes in thinking and practice, and how the analysis fits with existing ideas about rights and development. Analysis draws on an ethnographic perspective and on participant observation, questionnaires, interviews and a range of tools, within the RBA process and from the wider social development field. It is argued that organisations increasingly aim to operationalise RBA through more inclusive, participatory development which enables the claiming of rights and promotes accountability for their fulfilment. One strand of RBA emphasises implementation of a universalising legal framework; another turns to more consciously political processes of struggle for, and institutional responses to, people's claims. The strands reflect a tension that runs through both the fieldwork and examined literature, between formal, centralist, and pluralist, actor-oriented approaches. Adopting one or the other of the two approaches has profound implications for what is 'seen' in development. The thesis shows that, depending on the approach taken, relations in the private sphere are either shut out or exposed, and the operation of power either hidden or revealed. Actors' responses to RBA are absorbed into, and used within, underlying debates on social relations and social and political change. In a Muslim context, responses lead people to confront sacrosanct certainties about human organisation and relations with authority. This is seen most vividly through gender relations, which are used both as a central expression, and a protector, of a particular construction of power. A formal, centralist treatment of RBA tends to reinforce existing relations through which rights are 'given' and 'received'. The thesis case study shows that, conversely, a pluralist, actor-oriented approach is more process-centred and places more emphasis on rights being 'made'. This, in itself, signals a change in actors' roles. It is argued that the energy of RBA lies in transformations in actors and in development relationships, rather than in achievement of bounded development outputs. Significant impacts, amongst a minority of responses to RBA, grow out of actors seizing more active, politicised roles in development, despite depoliticised donor approaches.

This mini-dissertation relates to the post-conflict period in the DRC, Rwanda and Sierra Leone, juxtaposing the rights-based and interest-based approaches to conflict management and resolution. The study is premised on the lack of significant collaboration between the two approaches, notwithstanding the already existing collaboration. The rights-based approach posits that there exist some crimes of international dimension that should not be left unprosecuted for whatever reason. The approach sees the compliance with international norms on the respect of human rights as more important than coming to a final resolution of conflict. This paradigm therefore postulates that transgressors of international norms cannot take part in peace agreements and must be held individually responsible for the atrocities they have committed. The approach considers justice as a prerequisite to peace. The interest-based approach frowns at the idea of laying blame on persons as being responsible for committing horrendous breaches and rather seeks to be neutral and not blaming any party. The approach encourages more dialogue and cooperation between the two parties which could culminate in a settled agreement. The approach gives more room to inclusiveness, participation and conflict resolution. Peace here is accepted to be a conditio sine qua non to justice and the resolution of conflict thereafter. As a result of this juxtaposition of approaches, proponents of the two approaches have been perpetually suspicious of each other’s approach. This impasse has therefore retarded collaboration in the two paradigms to a sufficient degree. This study therefore argues for a third stand, which is the synergy of the approaches to collaborate to a degree which will enhance sustainability in peace agreements to guarantee durable and long lasting peace in the DRC, Rwanda and Sierra Leone. This third stand depicts that integrating the approaches, insights and knowledge from one approach strengthen and benefit the other. Conflict resolvers will understand how rights denial have the potential of igniting conflict, and human rights actors will enhance their negotiation skills in conflict resolution especially in areas where the access to rebel occupied zones and even to political prisoners is difficult. Finally, the study has also depicted how traditional African methods and concepts like Gacaca and Ubuntu can be enhanced within the broad usage of the two paradigms and not as competitive paradigms. Gacaca is a traditional mechanism in Rwanda whose primordial aim is the settlement and reconciliation of the victim with his perpetrators. Ubuntu seeks to reiterate the connectivity existing between Africans. Conflicts will not exist if we all love one another due to our connectivity. ‘We’ is given more consideration than ‘I’. This is the understanding from the perspective of Ubuntu. Copyright / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Centre for Human Rights / unrestricted

The lack of access to effective diagnosis and treatment of drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) remains a persistent global challenge. Human rights arguments for access to treatment mostly focus on the right to health. However, a key challenge in access to effective diagnosis and treatment is the glaring absence of scientific research in neglected diseases such as TB. This thesis sets out to elaborate the right to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and explore its potential to increase scientific research in DR-TB and consequently enhance access to effective diagnosis and treatment in South Africa. This research project was conducted using three interrelated sub-studies; a legal analysis sub-study which examines the current conceptualisation of the REBSP in international law; a policy analysis sub-study which interrogates South Africa’s legal and policy efforts towards the realisation of the REBSP and access to diagnosis and treatment for DR-TB; and a qualitative sub-study which explores the South African context regarding research and development (R&D) in general, and in DR-TB in particular. The qualitative sub-study included 17 stakeholders who are active in TB R&D, advocacy and policy work, from human rights and research institutions, government agencies, civil society organisations, and donor agencies. This thesis finds that the REBSP essentially ensures two things, namely the production of science and access to the benefits of scientific progress. However, most countries including South Africa have systems, policies and resources aimed at advancing the production of science but lack similar systems, policies and resources to purposely ensure the enjoyment of the benefits from scientific progress. Internationally, there is no clear guidance on the interpretation of the REBSP, making it difficult for states to domesticate it in their national policies and framework laws. A General Comment by a UN human rights monitoring body is therefore urgently needed to secure global consensus on the interpretation of the REBSP. In the meanwhile, South Africa can still draw inspiration for the REBSP and together with the right to health, use it to advance access to DR-TB diagnosis and treatment alongside many other interventions. To enable better access to effective diagnosis and treatment of DR-TB, this thesis recommends that South Africa i) develops systems that would make scientific progress and results accessible, and affordable; ii) removes system and regulatory barriers that hinder the conduct of research or that delay registration of new drugs; iii) monitors and regulates the conduct of third parties and prevent them from exploiting communities; iv) encourages pharmaceutical companies to provide free access to successful treatment and tools in communities where trials are conducted; and v) mobilises financial and technical resources and allocates them to DR-TB researchfrom drug discovery through to implementation science.

Namibia continues to face an ongoing struggle in protecting the rights and civil liberties of its LGBT population with LGBT rights-based organisations in the country strongly relying upon their volunteers to take advantage of political opportunities and manage multiple visibilities. Despite a growing body of international research into volunteer motivation and the beneficial application of such knowledge in volunteer management strategies, a dearth of literature exists on the motives of volunteers within LGBT rights-based organisations. This study uses data from qualitative interviews with 6 formal volunteers from Namibian LGBT rights-based organisations to explore volunteer motivations. A thematic analysis of the research findings reveal the complex motivations underlying volunteering in these organisations. Volunteer motivations in Namibian LGBT rights-based organisations included: (a) addressing and promoting humanitarian concerns; (b) improved social interaction, integration and support; (c) self-regulatory opportunities for personal enhancement; (d) developing career prospects; and (e) responding to past homophobic incidents. Barriers to volunteering were also identified and included: (a) strained organisational resources; (b) LGBT discrimination; and (c) complacency. For volunteer recruitment and retention strategies to be effective, organisations need to recognise and satisfy volunteers’ motives while also properly training and assisting volunteers in their respective roles. Also, given the local LGBT community’s sense of complacency, Namibian LGBT rights-based organisations would greatly benefit by strategically engaging community members and working to overcome the community’s lack of urgency. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)

The question regarding what makes child trafficking persistent in conflict and post-war settings has been subject to intense debate. The human trafficking literature makes general conclusions that trafficking is a by-product of civil wars, and in the process child traffickers exploit the breakdown of the rule of law. As such it is perceived that the governance of the problem of child trafficking can be effective whenever peace and stability is realised and when legal frameworks for protecting children are in place. Prompted by these assertions, I conducted a field study in South Sudan, a country emerging from one of Africa’s longest running and most brutal civil wars fought between the government in Khartoum and Sudanese Peoples Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A). The Sudan’s civil wars ended after the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005. Whilst the termination of the war raised expectations that the international anti-trafficking conventions, treaties and customary laws protecting children would have enforcement powers and would guarantee the rights and safety of the child, the peace failed to deliver on these expectations. Based on empirical data obtained through an intensive micro-level qualitative research conducted in South Sudan over three months, the research findings reveal that a number of challenges pose serious difficulties in enforcing international counter-trafficking legislations and child protection instruments. These challenges are compounded by the interplay of the emerging socio-economic and political development in the post-independent South Sudan.

Detention centres are a rather new phenomena in the Swedish institutional setup. However, due to the migration inflow of 2015 it is now rapidly expanding all over Sweden. So far, it has been only scarcely monitored and researched and mostly with a focus on the perspective of the detainee’s health or the employee’s experiences at the detention centres. Little is known about the role of the NGOs and how they collaborate with the Migration Agency to secure the rights for those who are detained. This study is a qualitative case study on one of the five detention centres in Sweden, namely Åstorp detention centre which is located in Skåne 20km from Helsingborg. Four interviews have been made with the Migration Agency and with the NGOs that are continuously visiting the detainees in Åstorp. By using data triangulation, the validity of the study has increased and principles from the rights-based approach have been used to highlight important aspects of the collaboration. One significant finding in this research is that the Migration Agency is willingly increasing the transparency by inviting an unlimited number of NGOs to monitor and secure the rights for the detainees, which in turn has led to Sweden's detention centres being referred to as a successful model for the rest of the world. This study has also showed a successful and mutual collaboration between the Migration Agency and the NGOs and even if their roles at the detention centres are different, all participants are working towards a common goal, to improve the conditions for those who are detained. Notwithstanding the relatively limited sample by including one out of five detention centres, this study contributes also, in a small way, to new insights of the situation in Sweden's detention centres and the importance of a successful collaboration between the Migration Agency and NGOs for the detainee’s rights.

In this work , I analyze the emergence of a series of Supreme Court cases in the Rehnquist and Roberts era which frame race-conscious legislation as discriminatory against whites; and which are responded to by the conservative justices as though anticlassification and reverse-discrimination are indeed rights claims. I analyze the response of the conservative justices to such claims, and posit that response of the conservative Justices to such cases constitutes activism. Further, the emergence of these cases can be attributed to the entrenchment of a colorblind narrative that is by its very nature not grounded in social reality, or historical context; and which aims to elevate the privileges of whiteness into rights. The implications of these narratives and conservative judicial activism will have monumental consequences for minority populations of color in the country.

The intention of this thesis is to assess the World Bank's SAPs as the principal economic impediment to implementing an RBA to NEPAD. This assessment is sought to contribute to calculating the feasibility for implementation. It is assumed that the RBA is the best approach currently available to further the significant cause of sustainable human, social and economic development in developing countries generally, and in Africa in particular. Sustainable development in Africa is recognised as an extremely significant step in promoting peace and security on the continent and internationally. Various NGOs, development institutes and scholars have argued that NEPAD lacks an RBA to development. However, while the critics are many, the question has not been voiced as to the obstacles Africa and international society face in applying an RBA to NEPAD. In an attempt to narrow this gap, the World Bank's SAPs are analysed. It has been shown many times that adjustment programmes do not adhere to the human rights standards spelled out, in particular, in the articles of the ICESCR. In addition, SAPs fail to incorporate human rights principles such as participation and accountability. Consequently, because SAPs are not based on international human rights standards and principles, they do not fulfil the requirements of an RBA to development. It follows that the approach cannot be applied to NEPAD as long as the World Bank's SAPs fail to adhere to these standards and principles and, thus, lead to the violation of people's human rights in developing countries. To reach a reasonable conclusion on the Bank's current human rights practices, its employment of SAPs in developing countries is analysed. Moreover, David Held's regime of liberal international sovereignty is examined and applied to this case. Both investigations discover independently of each other that the implementation of an RBA to NEPAD is unrealistic under the current circumstances.

Young people’s sexual health is a significant public health concern and associated with risks of unintended outcomes. Yet their voices are largely missing in the design of sexual health services, policy and education programmes. This study explored young people’s subjective understandings of their sexual readiness, and sexual health professionals’ understandings relative to how they assess young people’s sexual competence. A participatory rights-based approach was applied to support young people’s active participation in the research process. This involved including young people as co-researchers whose contextual expertise informed research design, ethical issues and interpretation of the data. Qualitative data collected from 20 young people aged 16-18 years, and 16 sexual health professionals, provided insights into the nature of young people’s first sexual intercourse and the context in which it occurs. The evidence suggests that while these young people actively deliberated about having sex, their sexual initiation was mostly spontaneous while under the influence of alcohol, and motivated by presumed peer rewards. Gender differences in expectations, motivations and the impact of first sex were apparent, which reveals more about the wider social structures that regulate their lives. As a result, some young people may find it difficult to resist the hegemonic gender stereotypes enforced by society and their peers, and may initiate sex to ‘get it over with’, whether they are competent or not. Four main constructs, i) rights, ii) respect, iii) responsibility and iv) resilience, emerged that are worthy of further investigation. These could prove useful to inform a more context-based sexual health promotion strategy and measure of sexual competence, as opposed to the current age and risk focus. Adding young people’s perspectives is crucial to develop more equitable, effective and sustainable youth-friendly sexual health education, treatment and advice services, that better engage with young people and more adequately reflects their needs.

The purpose of this research is to describe the role of human rights lawyers in a rights based approach to poverty reduction in Sub-Saharan Africa. The objective is to inform these role players of their proper functions and powers in using human rights regime to fight poverty in the region. / Mini Dissertation (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Law University of Pretoria, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Masters of Law (LLM in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa). Prepared under the supervison of Dr Christopher Mbazira, of the Community Law Centre, Faculty of Law, University of the Western Cape. / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/ / Centre for Human Rights / LLM