Thesis (MInternationalStudies)--University of South Australia, 2001.

This thesis concerns the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (‘the CRC’) in Indonesia: The chasm between theory and practice. Despite the enactment of several laws and regulations aimed at protecting the rights of the child, Indonesia’s implementation of children’s rights remains very limited. The theme of this thesis is that, despite the existence of adequate written laws, a state can fail to achieve an effective implementation of human rights, as exemplified by Indonesia. This thesis will focus on the impact of the rule of law on the holistic well-being of children, a group that Indonesia has acknowledged plays ‘a strategic role’ and is in a ‘unique position [to ensure] the continued existence of the nation’. The development of the rule of law and its impact on the implementation of the CRC in Indonesia will be compared to Australia, a state where the CRC has been much better implemented. There is an inextricable link between the rule of law and human rights. The prevailing view is that the rule of law does not depend on written laws; the rule of law is more about the extra-legal aspects of a society, such as culture, socio-economic factors and political factors. In the absence of the rule of law, human rights can only be selectively implemented and enforced. The rights of the child are a global human rights issue, which is particularly pertinent to Indonesia, a nation with a poor record for implementing children’s rights. Children’s rights are well established in international law, largely due to the adoption of the CRC. The CRC has provided the greatest contribution to the field of children’s rights and will serve as the focus of this thesis. Apart from being the most universally ratified human rights convention in history, the CRC expressly recognises a range of children’s rights including civil, political, socio-economic and cultural rights. More importantly, the CRC shifted the responsibility for implementing children’s rights from parents and local communities to State Parties. The CRC is thus an advanced tool for assessing the standard of children’s rights internationally and for implementing change, and will be used to compare the current status of children’s rights in Indonesia and Australia. Arguably, the issue of children’s rights is complex and the implementation of children’s rights requires a multifaceted approach. This thesis will conclude with recommendations on how Indonesia can move forward to achieve a better implementation of children’s rights.

The main objective of this thesis is to provide description, analysis and criticism on the existing international instruments for the promotion of respect and protection of human rights, as well as a suggestion to the international community through the United Nations mechanism to adopt an additional legal instrument as a complementary procedure. This, in turn, should serve as an extra-pressure upon the State governments to bring their internal legal system in the same line as the international standards for the protection of human rights. It is being argued in this work that the current international procedures available to individual alleging their human rights have been abused by State are no longer sufficient and therefore another procedure should be introduced and put into place. The chapter "The Case of Indonesia" serves as a good (or bad?) example of State abusive conduct and remain "untouchable" under international mechanisms. Despite gross and systematic violations of human rights Indonesian government is still immune due to executive-heavy legislation system, restricted judicial review as a result of a corrupt judiciary and impunity of government and other public agencies. The study fvstly concentrates on the procedures available at international level for dealing with individual complaint alleging human rights violations. Different procedures both under Charter and treaty provisions are analysed in the attempt to describe their advantages and disadvantages. Two Charter-based procedures dealt with in the discussion cover the communication procedure under the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) which includes the "1503" procedure. Treaty-based procedures are given special attention in this thesis which include the procedure before the Human Rights Committee (HRC), the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), the Committee against Torture (CAT) and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). The discussion further presents a critical appraisal of those procedures in which the limitations and weaknesses of the procedures are analysed followed by the suggestion to adopt an additional procedure to complement the current mechanisms available to individual seeking remedies for human rights violations. The limitations of the procedures featured largely by the fact that the decisions resulted from those procedures are legally non-binding. And this all what an individual can receive after being allowed to bring hisher petition before the Committee. Before one is permitted to communicate with one of the Committee hetshe must first meet all the conditions of admissibility. The condition "exhaustion of all domestic remedies" can virtually be seen as a hindrance for individual to communicate with the Committee. Jn order to support this argument several decisions on several individual complaints handed down by the HRC are presented in this study. Finally, the study introduces a complementary procedure called International Judicial Review by which the State Constitutions and legislation can be examined whether or not they are in conformity with international human rights standards and norms. If found inconsistent the Constitutions or legislation must be declared invalid. The power to review is given to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) as the "principal judicial organ of The United Nations". And as a World Court the decision made by the ICJ has legally binding power.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Arizona, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references.

Zugl.: Bern, Univ., Diss., 2005

Thesis (S.J.D.)--University of Toronto, 2004. / Advisers: David Schneiderman; Brenda Cossman.

Thesis (LL. M.)--University of Toronto, 2004. / Adviser: Kent Roach.

Thesis (M.A.)--Simon Greenleaf School of Law, 1987. / Bibliography: leaves 313-322.

Thesis (B.A.)--Haverford College, Dept. of Philosophy, 2002. / Title from paper copy. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A. 1977) from the Departments of Education and French, University of Adelaide.