In recent years, explanations for the occurrence of civil war have mainly emphasized state weakness as providing an opportunity for greed-based rebellions. Yet, this explanation leaves many questions open, as it cannot distinguish between weak states that do and those that do not experience civil war. In this paper, I argue that abuses of personal integrity rights, committed or sponsored by the government, provide this missing link. The theory is illustrated and formalized in a game-theoretic model and then tested empirically, building on earlier work by Fearon and Laitin (2003a) and Sambanis (2004). The results show that repression is highly significant in both statistical and substantive terms. According to one model, the probability of civil war onset increases by a factor of almost 16 in highly repressive countries compared to countries with no repression. Further robustness tests across alternative civil war lists largely confirm the importance of human rights abuses in explaining the occurrence of civil war.

Massage therapy is often used to treat musculoskeletal symptoms and to promote wellness. While evidence regarding its effectiveness is increasing, research related to actual practice and studies seeking to understand the mechanisms of massage therapy are needed. The purpose of this research was to describe the characteristics of massage therapists and their clients and to understand the role of communication in massage therapy outcomes. The first study examined the outcome expectations, expectancies, and behaviors of a random sample of massage therapists in Iowa (n=151) using a cross-sectional survey. The second study used a practice-based research design incorporating two samples of massage therapy clients (n=320 and n=321) to develop and validate a measure of client expectations of massage, the Client Expectations of Massage Scale (CEMS). The third study examined the influence of client expectations and massage therapists' interpersonal attractiveness on pain and satisfaction following massage. Social Cognitive Theory and Expectancy Violation Theory were used as frameworks to demonstrate how health behavior and communication theories can provide insight to massage therapy research. Results indicated that massage therapists had high expectations regarding the benefits of massage therapy and engaged in a variety of behaviors that reflect the clinical, educational, and interpersonal nature of massage therapy. In addition to using a variety of manual therapies, the massage therapists educated their clients in areas such as diet, stress management, and exercise to improve client health. Similarly, clients had positive expectations as measured by the outcome, clinical, educational, and interpersonal subscales of the CEMS. Positive outcome expectations predicted significant improvements in pain and serenity. High interpersonal expectations were related to negative changes in serenity. The third study revealed that high satisfaction was influenced by positive interpersonal attractiveness but more research is needed to understand the influence of client expectations being met on satisfaction. Initially high educational expectations, exceeded educational expectations, violated interpersonal expectations, and positive interpersonal attractiveness were related to less pain following massage. In conclusion, this research demonstrated that client expectations and massage therapist interpersonal attractiveness are important constructs to consider when evaluating the effects of massage therapy.

Magister Legum - LLM / This study investigates the the impact of armed conflict on child education in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Naturally, armed conflict affects negatively on people‟s life. In particular, armed conflict affects the education of children as military groups attack schools, schools children and teachers. Ultimately, armed conflicts also affect the quality of education children receive during hostilities. In light of this, the study assesses how the Congolese government, in line with international and regional human rights obligations, responds to the educational needs of children affected by armed conflict.

This essay discusses how the new theoretical framework of “new” authoritarianism can explain the civil and political rights abuses in Venezuela since Nicolás Maduro became Present in 2013 until today. The presidency of Maduro has evoked international attention about the increasing authoritarian climate. His pursuit of increasing control and power has resulted in serious violations of people’s civil and political rights. New authoritarianism has four factors that have been applied on the case study of Venezuela’s civil and political rights violations. The factors’ indicators have specifically explained new authoritarianism’s relationship to the case of Venezuela. The use of law in other governmental powers, the military’s social control and use of force, the opposition’s resistance, the limitations on organizations, the discrimination of media and finally a discriminated public labor force explain the civil and political rights violations in Venezuela between 2013 and 2019.

"This study centres on the presumption that, given the unprecedented economic power of corporations, it is vital to clarify the legal issues surrounding the responsibility of corporations for human rights violations and to look at avenues for asserting responsibility. Consequently, this study focuses on the responsibility concept for corporate human rights violations and the objective of this study is to explore, examine and assess various avenues for asserting responsibility for corporate human rights violations. The study recommends other avenues for asserting responsibility for corporate human rights violations in Africa. The study therefore raises four issues. The first phase seeks to focus on how globalisation has triggered the proliferation of corporations in national economies in Africa and the impact on human rights issues taking into cognisance the responsibility concept vis a vis corporations. The second part seeks to examine state responsibility for the acts of corporations. This discussion will focus on the International Rules on State Responsibility and obligations of states under international human rights law with reference to certain human rights instruments that confer a duty on states to respect and to ensure to all citizens within their territories and subject to their jurisdiction the rights recongnised in these instruments. This discussion basically seeks to review the dominant approach to human rights treaties and the relevant instruments to assess the available avenues in asserting responsibility on the state for corporate human rights violations. This study will assess home and host state responsibility and argue that the host state cannot certainly be regarded as the main bearer of responisiblity for violations of human rights due to the powerful characteristics of corporatoins. The jurisprudence of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights will also be taken into consideration in examining the legal responsibility of states under international human rights law for corporate human rights violations. Part three of this study will addres the question of asserting direct responsibility on transnational corporations for human rights violations. While some remarks will be made on non-legal responsibilities or soft law, my interest will however be to examine and assess the suitability of human right principles and instruments that confer direct responsibility on corporations for human rights violations. The discussion will also take cognisance of some treaties that confer direct criminal responsibility on corporations for human rights violations. The fourth and concluding part will attempt to look at the need for internaitonal legally binding regulations of corporations. This discussion will attempt to focus on the application and implications of international legally binding regulation in Africa as a means of reforming and strengthening direct corporate criminal responsibility for human rights violations. Recommendations geared towards the legal reform of asserting direct responsiblity on transnational corporations in Africa will then be made." -- Introduction. / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2004. / Prepared under the supervision of Prof. Kingsley K. K. Ampofo, Faculty of Law, University of Ghana / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/academic_pro/llm1/llm1.html / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

"The international community is divided in respect of what actually occurred in Darfur. There are differenct views on the conflict. Some reports show that the conflict cannot be characterised as genocide, but rather atrocities, namely war crimes and crimes against humanity. Yet others indicate that, apart from crimes against humanity and war crimes, there was also genocide in Darfur. Still other reports indicate that the Darful conflict is characterised by 'ethnic cleansing'. Clearly there is a disagreement on what happened in Darfur. ... This study poses a critique to past studies on the Darfur conflict on the question of genocide. It analyses facts about the conflict in relation to the law on genocide so as to find out whether facts can meet the definition of the crime of genocide. The study is limited to the legal issue - whether genocide was committed in Darfur between 2003 and 2004. It does not intend to introduce the background to the conflict; rather, facts are only applied in the legal arguments. ... This work has four chapters. Chapter one is an introduction to the study. Chapter two discusses material elements of genocide and determination of a protected group. Chapter three discusses intent to commit genocide and poses a critique to past studies on Darfur. Chapter four shows conclusion and recommendations." -- Introduction. / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2005. / Prepared under the supervision of Dr. Paolo Comoane at the Faculty of Law, Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, Maputo, Mocambique / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/academic_pro/llm1/dissertations.html / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

"The exclusive focus on the state-centric paradigm of IHRL fails to address the increasing number of an array of private (non-state) actors who may come into play in terms of violations of human rights. Therefore while this study proceeds from the premise that the state is the primary focus of IHRL, it will be argued that the state cannot certainly be deemed the sole bearer of responsibility for human rights violations in view of the increase in the number of potential violators. Consequently, the study aims to address three issues. Firstly, it seeks to investigate the increase in the number of violators of human rights to include non-state actors (particularly transnational (multinational) corporations TNCs) and the effect of this increase on the violations of ESCRs. While the discussion will focus on the accountability of private actors vis-à-vis the protection of ESCRs, the area of civil and political rights is considered no less important. The discussion takes cognisance of the indivisibility and inter-dependence of all human rights in the sense that no precise contours separating all human rights can be said to exist. Secondly, the study seeks to review the dominant approach to human rights including human rights treaties and other relevant instruments to assess their potential in asserting the human rights obligations (including, ESCRs obligations)) of non-state actors. Thirdly and with specific reference to the TNC as a non-state actor in the African context, the study seeks to investigate the challenges to the problem of implementing the accountability of TNCs through the IHRL framework and suggest ways of addressing these challenges. Central focus will be placed on the accountability of TNCs for human rights violations, particularly ESCRs. The choice of TNCs in this study is justified on account of the immense economic power wielded by these entities vis a vis the changing notion of state sovereignty as will be emphasized in chapter 2. At a more specific level, the case study on the problem of accountability of TNCs is narrowed down to an African context particularly for two reasons. Firstly, the problem of control of TNCs is highlighted more in the case of the weaker state in the African context. Secondly, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights’ recent decision in the SERAC case that forms the basis of the case study in chapter 4 brings into light within a human rights treaty monitoring framework, the challenges of TNC- accountability within the context of Africa." -- Chapter 1. / Prepared under the supervision of Professor Tobias van Reenen at the Faculty of Law, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2002. / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/academic_pro/llm1/dissertations.html / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

Terrorism is not a new threat to the international order but it is a threat that has grown more urgent in the last few years. Terrorism has become a tragic circumstance of everyday live and has caused a remarkable loss of lives. It was only after the terrorist attacks against the United States on September 11 2001, that the international community realised it needed to co-operate and take actions against terrorism on an international level. One response has been the adoption of international rules for the suppression and eradication of terrorism and terrorist activities and making accountable the perpetrators of such acts. In fact, the contingent character of ad hoc tribunals encourages states to carry out their idea of establishing a permanent penal jurisdiction. The establishment of the International Criminal Court is considered a crowning achievement for preventing and prosecuting abominable crimes. The jurisdiction of the court shall be limited to the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole; this includes crime of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and eventually crime of aggression. However disagreement over a definition of what constitutes terrorist activity made it impossible to include within the jurisdiction of the Court such serious crime named terrorism. There have been multiple approaches to the issue, but despite all efforts to pursue individuals who committed human rights violations, the ICC’s subject matter jurisdiction is limited since the international community could not reach to a consensual definition on what should be understood as terrorism. Consequently the Court does not have jurisdiction over international terrorism. There is therefore no standing, permanent international body with criminal jurisdiction over individuals accused of terrorist acts, although such acts may in extreme case fall within the rubric of crime against humanity. The various instruments and international directives dedicated to the eradication and suppression of terrorism have not resolved the impasse of its definition; nor is there any ‘unified’ international law approach to combating terrorism. / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Public Law / unrestricted

Doctor Legum - LLD / International standards recognise the basic right of all women and girls to make free choices about reproduction including the number if any, spacing and timing of their children without being subjected to discrimination, coercion, or violence. The enjoyment of this right by many women in the world has overtime been interfered with through forced sterilisation which has a salient history beginning with the eugenics movement in the 20th century indicating a disproportionate impact on the poor, ethnic minorities, women with disabilities, transgender group, as well as women living with HIV.

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