South Africa‘s high prevalence of HIV/AIDS coupled with a high crime rate and incidence of sexual violence necessitated the enquiry and study into the role of criminal law to address the wilful transmission of HIV.1 This study shows that criminal law can be used to punish offenders for wrongdoing and therefore finds application in the wilful transmission of HIV.2 The study distinguishes the dividing line between the justifiable use of criminal law and where use of the criminal law becomes discriminatory in nature and counterproductive to public health measures. The United Nations (hereinafter referred to as the UN) laid down guiding principles for countries to adopt when using the criminal law and stated that countries should use existing criminal law offences to prosecute intentional HIV infections.3 The South African Law Commission (hereinafter referred to as the SALC) endorses this approach. South Africa‘s use of the criminal law, in response to harmful HIV behaviour is in line with the UN recommendations as it uses the existing common law offences to prosecute the wilful transmission of HIV, namely murder, attempted murder and assault. Drawing from the writer‘s comparative study in Chapter Six below, South Africa, members of the Zimbabwean parliament, Canada, as well as the American Bar Association have all concluded that the use of specific HIV-related legislation creates some a form of stigmatization towards people living with HIV and is therefore not warranted. This study shows that criminal law has a role to play in the wilful transmission of HIV; however the creation of HIV specific legislation is not recommended and existing criminal law offences should be used to address harmful HIV related behaviour. Such an approach is in line with the guiding principles laid down by the UN and SALC.

Federal employment law designed to assure equal employment opportunity for faculty has only been applicable to higher education since 1972. Prior to 1972, the higher education world, moreover, was immune from the most comprehensive federal employment law, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. However, Title VII was amended in 1972 to include education institutions. Ever since the protection of the civil rights law was extended to higher education, faculty employment discrimination litigation has increased. The reality of this phenomenal growth in litigation is clear, the potential for judicial intervention in academic decision making is undeniable, and reliance on the judicial process is increasingly becoming common. Thus, no institution of higher education may consider itself immune from the possibilities of litigation, nor immune from the decisions handed down by the courts. The main focus of this study was a legal one, which necessitated a heavy concentration upon the historical and current state of employment discrimination law, specifically, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The study was conducted by using a combination of legislative analysis and legal research methods. The legal research methods used in this study included the same problem-solving processes as other traditional research methods: (1) collecting data; (2) analysis; and (3) interpretation. The main purpose of this study was to examine, analyze, and summarize legislative history and case law relevant to Title VII, and sex discrimination in higher education. In summary, although Title VII prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex and national origin, the issues surrounding women faculty and sex discrimination is probably the fastest growing area of litigation for administrators on the university campus. Therefore, this study was an attempt to examine the employment discrimination issues and developments pertaining to sex discrimination only. College and university administrators may find this study useful for: (1) examining Title VII, and its amendments; (2) examining sex discrimination case law; and (3) utilizing the research for developing procedures, policies and guidelines to minimize potential lawsuits. / Ed. D.

South Africa has not escaped the rising prevalence and severe impact of HIV/AIDS in relation women. From an economic and social vantage point, the HIV/AIDS epidemic hits women the hardest, with underprivileged black women the most susceptible to the virus. The theoretical framework of this research focuses on the intersection between HIV/AIDS, gender inequality and gender violence, and more specifically, on certain cultural practices and customs that contribute towards and exacerbate women’s subordination and inequality, which in turn, increase women’s exposure to become infected with HIV. Relevant to this focus is inevitably an investigation of perceived threats to specific fundamental human rights as a result of some entrenched practices that continue to reinforce women’s subordinate position in society, aggravated by the high incidence of gender violence. / Constitutional, International & Indigenous Law / LL.M.

Thesis (LLM)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / Includes bibliography / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In South Africa gender-based violence (hereafter “GBV”) has reached extreme levels. This violent manifestation of gender inequality is compounded by the fact that women are disproportionately affected by poverty, the HIV/AIDS epidemic and inadequate health care services. This is in spite of South Africa’s progressive constitutional and legislative framework which appears highly conducive to combating gender inequality and GBV. For example, the Constitution protects the right to equality (section 9), human dignity (section 10), life (section 11), freedom and security of the person (section 12) and the right to have access to health care services, including reproductive health (section 27(1)(a)). Extensive legislation has also been enacted for the protection of women. For example, the preamble to the Domestic Violence Act 116 of 1998 (hereafter “DVA”) recognises domestic violence as a serious social evil. While the DVA is notably silent as to the role of the health care sector, the DVA is progressive in that it contains a broad definition of domestic violence, and recognises a wide range of relationships. The Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act 32 of 2007 also seeks to afford complainants of sexual offences “the maximum and least traumatising protection that the law can provide”. In addition to this, South Africa has international law obligations to address GBV and gender inequality. For example, under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (1979), States are obliged to address private acts of violence and to remove discrimination against women in all fields, including health. However, despite this progressive framework of rights, some interpretations of these integral rights have been unduly formalistic, in addition to being disengaged from the lived reality of many women. There is also a substantial gap between policy and practice, with the implementation of existing legislation a continuing problem. It is therefore imperative that we analyse the right to have access to health care services through a gender lens so as to transcend a purely legalistic perspective and to interrogate gendered social processes and power relations. This thesis analyses how existing law and policy can be transformed so as to be more responsive to these lived realities and needs of survivors of GBV. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Geslagsgebaseerde geweld (hierna ‘GGG’) in Suid-Afrika het uiterste vlakke bereik. Hierdie gewelddadige manifestasie van geslagsongelykheid word vererger deur die feit dat vroue buite verhouding erg deur armoede, die MIV/vigs-epidemie en ontoereikende gesondheidsorgdienste geraak word. Dit is ondanks Suid-Afrika se vooruitstrewende grondwetlike en wetsraamwerk wat op die oog af hoogs bevorderlik vir die bestryding van geslagsongelykheid en GGG voorkom. Die Grondwet verskans, byvoorbeeld, die reg op gelykheid (artikel 9), menswaardigheid (artikel 10), lewe (artikel 11), vryheid en sekerheid van die persoon (artikel 12) en toegang tot gesondheidsorgdienste, met inbegrip van reproduktiewe gesondheidsorg (artikel 27(1)(a)). Omvattende wetgewing oor vrouebeskerming is ook reeds uitgevaardig. Die aanhef tot die Wet op Gesinsgeweld 116 van 1998 (hierna die ‘WGG’) identifiseer, byvoorbeeld, huishoudelike geweld as ’n ernstige maatskaplike euwel. Hoewel die WGG swyg oor die rol van die gesondheidsorgsektor, is dit nietemin vooruitstrewend aangesien dit ’n uitgebreide omskrywing van huishoudelike geweld bevat en ’n wye verskeidenheid verhoudings erken. Die Wysigingswet op die Strafreg (Seksuele Misdrywe en Verwante Aangeleenthede) 32 van 2007 is ook daarop afgestem om klaagsters van seksuele oortredings “die omvattendste en mins traumatiese beskerming te gee wat die wet kan bied”. Daarbenewens verkeer Suid-Afrika onder internasionale regsverpligtinge om GGG en geslagsongelykheid aan te spreek. Ingevolge die Konvensie vir die Uitwissing van Alle Vorme van Diskriminasie teen Vroue (1979), byvoorbeeld, is state verplig om privaat geweldsdade teen te staan en diskriminasie teen vroue op alle gebiede te verwyder, insluitend gesondheid. Nietemin, benewens hierdie vooruitstrewende menseregteraamwerk is sommige interpretasies van hierdie onafskeidbare regte nie net oormatig formalisties nie, maar ook verwyderd van die daaglikse realiteit van baie vroue. Daar is ook ʼn wesenlike gaping tussen beleidsmaatreëls en die praktyk, terwyl die uitvoering van bestaande wetgewing ʼn voortgesette probleem verteenwoordig. Dit is dus gebiedend om die reg op toegang tot gesondheidsorgdienste deur ʼn geslagslens te analiseer om sodoende ʼn bloot regsgedrewe perspektief te bo te gaan en om maatskaplike prosesse en magsverhoudinge in oënskou te neem. Hierdie tesis analiseer hoe bestaande wetsraamwerke en beleidsmaatreëls getransformeer kan word om beter te reageer op die realiteite en behoeftes van oorlewendes van GGG. / Stellenbosch University Hope Project / Bradlow Foundation

This study provides a feminist analysis of protective labor legislation in the Supreme Court case of UAW v. Johnson Controls, Inc. History of protection rhetoric and precedented cases leading up to UAW are provided. Using a feminist analysis, this study argues that the victory for women's labor rights in UAW is short lived, and the cycle of protection rhetoric continues with new pro-business agendas replacing traditional justifications for "protecting" women in the work place. The implications of this and other findings are discussed.

South Africa has not escaped the rising prevalence and severe impact of HIV/AIDS in relation women. From an economic and social vantage point, the HIV/AIDS epidemic hits women the hardest, with underprivileged black women the most susceptible to the virus. The theoretical framework of this research focuses on the intersection between HIV/AIDS, gender inequality and gender violence, and more specifically, on certain cultural practices and customs that contribute towards and exacerbate women’s subordination and inequality, which in turn, increase women’s exposure to become infected with HIV. Relevant to this focus is inevitably an investigation of perceived threats to specific fundamental human rights as a result of some entrenched practices that continue to reinforce women’s subordinate position in society, aggravated by the high incidence of gender violence. / Constitutional, International and Indigenous Law / LL.M.

The thesis deals with the process of reconciliation in Polish-German relations after 1945. Lily Gardner Feldman's invented a concept which defines the prerequisites for the reconciliation process. In her concept she defines four essential pillars of the reconciliation process - history, leadership, institutions and international context. Although Polish-German relations have undergone a long development and both sides have built up a stable and firm mutual relationship, it is possible to see changes within the four categories mentioned. The aim of this thesis is to outline the process of reconciliation in Polish-German relations after 1945 and capture the qualitative changes in mutual relations during the first rule of the Law and Justice party between 2005 and 2007, which represented a critical point in Polish-German relations and a change in the Polish foreign policy towards Germany since 1989. In the first part the thesis discusses the development of the Polish-German relations until the end of the 1990s, and in the second part of the thesis, the concept is applied to the Law and Justice party government's "critical" period (2005-2007), focusing on the four categories mentioned and on the most discussed topics. In the final part of the thesis there follows an evaluation of the validity of the used...

No description available.