On 9 October 2016, a group of Rohingya militants, equipped with machetes, attacked police stations in northern Rakhine State (nRS), one of the most impoverished states in Myanmar, looting and killing nine police officers and injuring another five. In turn, military and police targeted and attacked Rohingya armed groups, killing many innocent civilians. On 24 March 2017, the European Union, supported by the United States, the United Kingdom and other countries, sponsored a United Nations resolution which gives effect to a UN factfinding mission to determine the facts on violations, especially in Rakhine State. With a view to challenging conventional explanations and views of United Nations-mandated fact-finding, this research study operationalizes a dynamic view of UN fact-finding. At first blush, a strong case can be made that these relatively extensively researched, and verified, across-case dynamics and processes arguably underlie the establishment of the UN-mandated fact-finding mission to Myanmar. However, structural explanations, like the gridlock in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), do not adequately take into account the timing of the establishment of this United Nations mandated fact-finding mission. The tatmadaw’s military operations have for many years been seen to involve systematic violations of human rights. Crimes such as arbitrary arrest, torture, or forced labour already featured centrally in the work on Myanmar by human rights organizations in the 1980s, and these and many other apparent human rights violations, to a certain extent, continue to preoccupy the United Nations. Furthermore, not only do structural explanations fail to take sufficient account of the dynamic interplay between domestic and international fact-finding and the strategic context in which they are established, but how the UN mission ‗reflects‘ the complexity of Myanmar‘s strategic context, characterised by the emergence and contestation of two audiences of legitimation. In this regard, this research study brings together two branches of scholarly literature‘ and focuses on the politics of the ‗here and now‘ and the contingencies of within case dynamics that underlie the establishment of the UN-mandated fact-finding mission to Myanmar. In this regard, structural explanations cannot fully account for how the UN-mission went from constituting an implicit challenge to the so-called ‗Annan Commission‘ to being framed as ‗complementary‘ to the Annan Commission. Bringing together two bodies of scholarly literature, this research study highlights how four factors in Myanmar‘s strategic context were key to the establishment of the UN-mission, namely, 1. increasing international debate and division over the ‗authority‘ of Aung San Suu Kyi; 2. a political shift within the UN headquarters towards an activist role; and 3. a critique of the United Nations‘ (UN) dominant approach in Myanmar, which has triggered a fourth, namely, 4. the contestation over the identity of the ‗audiences of legitimation.‘ This is most aptly illustrated by the establishment of the UN-mandate fact-finding mission to Myanmar, which ‗reflects‘ the complexity of Myanmar‘s strategic context, characterised by the contestation, navigation and co-optation of these now competing sources of legitimacy: the politics of personality and the politics of Rohingya victimhood. With a view to operationalizing Frederic Megret‘s (2016) ‗dynamic‘ view or conceptualization of international human rights fact-finding, it is argued that the establishment of the UN fact-finding mission to Myanmar is to be understood primarily in the context of the contested nature of the identity of ‗audiences of legitimation‘. Furthermore, this research study employs a process-tracing research methodology, looking to critical historical junctures where explanations challenge conventional wisdom of the literature, for example, that the UN-mandated fact-finding mission is intended to (only) discover the ‗truth about the past‘ or conceptualization of fact-finding that conflate what is ‗factual‘ with ‗the law‘ or presuppose a ‗fact-law distinction‘. Rather, United Nations-mandated fact-finding is a form of ‗discursive practise‘, established (primarily) with a view to the cultivation and maintenance of legitimacy.

Bibliography : leaves 66-71.

The thesis contextualises the state of transitional justice, elite outlooks and militarisation in Zimbabwe, whilst drawing attention to the complexities of achieving this reality. The study draws from transitional justice, civil-military relations, as well as the political settlements literature as analytical frameworks. Essentially, the study poses two key questions: How does studying transitional justice and elite culture help pre-plan for strategies to professionalise the military and reallocate civic-political duties to citizens should Zimbabwe transition out of authoritarianism? Once achieved, how can this be sustained towards socio-economic development? The study also tackles questions of justice and impunity whilst framing client-patron relations amongst the elite as impediments to progress. Amidst cyclical episodes of violation, the thesis links the denial of justice through amnesties, corruption, and further violence, to the politics of policing memory and trauma. This is analysed within the scope of the late Robert Mugabe regime as well as the current Emmerson Mnangagwa regime – both of which are inherited legacies from the Ian Smith regime. The intricacies of elite networks and accumulation are then laid out, culminating in deliberations on how to navigate prospects for reform, in understanding the politics of non-recurrence when contextualising systemic as well as physical violence. The thesis aims to contribute to ongoing discussions on political leadership, national healing, and institutional reform in Zimbabwe.

On 4 October 2016, three black female students at the University of Witwatersrand (hereafter Wits) in Johannesburg, South Africa staged a naked protest to call for a ceasefire during the peak of the #FeesMustFall (FMF) protests. The FMF movement emerged in late 2015 as a student revolt against costly higher education fees especially for black students in South Africa. Armed police fired rubber bullets, stun grenades, and teargas to stop ongoing FMF protests which shut down university operations as students vowed to protest until all their demands were met. Within this context, the three female students at Wits University stood topless and formed a buffer zone between mostly male protesting students and the police. The method of protest was however mostly received with condemnation by the public and received widespread attention on social media platforms where the focus shifted from the central issues that sparked the naked protest to predominantly body shaming the women and questioning their morality (Ndlovu, 2017:68). This response to the naked protest therefore raised questions around the continuous policing of women's bodies and the patriarchal structure of public space where naked protests are performed. This thesis will use the 2016 naked protest that took place during violent FMF clashes between the police, private security, and students at Wits University as a lens to explore the ways in which naked protests have been used as an empowering tool to challenge men and authorities in violent contexts. It will draw on the 1990 naked protest in Soweto in South Africa, the 2002 naked peace protest in Liberia, and the 2002 anti-oil naked protest in Nigeria to illustrate the trajectory of naked protests in different African societies and the unique ways in which women's nakedness and undress has been perceived with apprehension in these societies. The central question that this thesis intends to explore is why do naked protests by women in African societies trigger apprehension in bystanders and black authoritarian male figures? I argue that it is a powerful form of protest, beyond cultural symbolisms attached to senior black women's bodies, as it subverts patriarchal mores underpinned in public space that delineates when and how black women can be seen in the public domain. I argue that it also provides the space for black women to assert their presence in protest movements and broader society which is typically unappreciated and overlooked. The point is to illustrate how naked protests ultimately undermines patriarchal mores and essentially invalidates colonial ideologies that renders the black female body socially invisible.

In the aftermath of the Second Congo War, a range of transitional justice mechanisms was adopted in the ungoverned Kivu provinces in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), characterised by the lack of political settlement, the decline of government control, and the prevalence of different types of violence other than armed fighting. In the wake of this, the Kivus became entangled in a myriad of daunting challenges in their pursuit of justice and sustainable peace, particularly through the formal transitional justice mechanisms introduced by the transitional government. The failure of state-led transitional justice mechanisms led to the implementation of the Barza Inter-Communautaire (Barza) – a local justice mechanism - as a part of a national strategy for reconciliation. In times of ongoing conflict, the Barza was embodied in the constellation of power shaped by local, national and international political dynamics. The Barza-led justice processes during armed conflicts have had both positive and negative impacts on the Kivu provinces. On the one hand, the mechanism - with its restorative potentials - had a pacifying effect on armed conflict since it had the capacity to resolve conflict and de-escalate ethnic violence. On the other hand, the mechanism also had an increasing effect on conflict intensity which would contribute to a greater likelihood of conflict recurrence. This is because the Barza mechanism was capable of being manipulated by warring parties as a part of their political tactics, in conjunction with their military operations. Hence, the manner in which armed conflicts were settled and wrongdoings were addressed through the Barza during the 2003-06 transition had significant implications for conflict dynamics in the Kivu provinces.

The history of South Africa entails colonial and apartheid era violence and trauma (visible and invisible) which ingrained various socio-economic-political-agrarian orders of brutalisation, mass killings, and the displacement of local people from their culture, language, land, agency, and spirituality. Attached to such history, are the intact remnants of the colonial and apartheid eras – national heritage monuments. The Castle of Good Hope, as a national heritage site, is not limited as being the oldest architectural structure in Cape Town, nor is it only a transitioning site that tries to incorporate democratic principles of multiple heritage. This site wields memories of both individual and collective historical colonial and apartheid trauma. Critically, this research project seeks to empirically analyse whether historical traumas are embedded in the displaced landscape and individual and collective experiences as the descendants of the colonised, enslaved, and oppressed. Historical trauma in this context, is often associated with the scholarship on the trans-Atlantic slave trade (from Africa to the Americas). However, little work is done in relation to the descendant's navigation of trauma – the resultant of the Indian Ocean trade and slave trade. The trauma related to the violent occupation of the European nations, transcended itself and was continued through various apartheid policies which has prevailing legacies of intergenerational historical trauma in Cape Town. Thus, this qualitative empirical research project seeks to explore the memories, experiences, and recommendations of resilient apartheid survivors – the descendants of the colonised, enslaved, and oppressed generations – and the ways in which they navigate the Castle of Good Hope as a site of historical trauma.

Crime, and the criminals that enact it, are no new phenomenon; however, the way in which we conceptualise and understand organised crime requires revision. Orthodox approaches are no longer relevant to current manifestations of crime, nor is it sufficient to fully grasp its endurance. The difficulty in understanding modern day criminal activity is exacerbated by the fact that leaders of criminal organisations are no longer merely 'criminals' distinct from ‘ordinary citizens’. They can also assume identities of state personnel, politicians, policemen and powerful businessmen. In essence, the fight against crime, but more specifically organised crime, can no longer be solely conceptualised as a fight against criminals, as they have been traditionally conceived of, but rather a fight against criminal networks. Approaches to organised crime therefore require a methodological approach that highlights the complicated relationships and networks sustaining organised crime. This thesis will ground itself in the theoretical framework of networks and social network analysis. In order to adequately understand the nature and operations of organised crime we need to start understanding organised crime as outfits of criminal networks spread across communities, cities, and countries creating webs that link a dynamic range of people, businesses and organisations that work together to sustain and profit off organised criminal activity. One of these links that has previously been ignored is the link between criminals and the State. Research shows that the relationship between State and organised crime is not always one of conflict. In many cases it has been found that the State and organised criminal entities share alliances and mutual interests. In South Africa, there are various cases revealing corruption among state officials. Reputable media outlets have reported numerous stories of corruption, which highlight a crisis that may be systemic. The question relevant to this thesis, is what is the relationship between corruption and organised crime? It is for these reasons that this thesis will explore two case studies in which to assess the theory of network and social network analysis. Following a literature review and critical analysis of organised crime, the concept of criminal networks and a shifting from conceptualizing this phenomena as a hierarchy towards a network understanding, these case studies shall be explored. The intent is to conclude what these networks look like, who is involved, how they operate and what type of relations organised criminals share with the State. It is the hope that this thesis can contribute towards current debates on organised crime, specifically on how organised crime has shifted from an understanding of hierarchy to one of a network.

The experiences of the Romanies on the European continent have been marked by centuries of prejudice, abuse, slavery and murder. Central to this history of oppression is the Nazi regime’s racial persecution and genocide of the Romanies during the Holocaust. However, in the Federal Republic of Germany, the devastating experiences of the Romanies during the Holocaust received minimal attention in the decades that followed. As such, this thesis aims to answer the question: Did the transitional justice process in the Federal Republic of Germany, in the aftermath of the Third Reich, fail Romanies as victims of racial persecution, genocide and the Holocaust? It provides an overview of the suffering experienced by the Romanies at the hands of the Nazi regime, situating their plight within the framework of racial persecution, genocide and the Holocaust. It then analyses how this was addressed by the transitional justice process undertaken in the Federal Republic of Germany after the fall of the Third Reich, focusing on the mechanisms of retributive justice, as well as material and symbolic reparations. Examining how, within each of these mechanisms, Romanies were marginalised as victims, the thesis illustrates that the transitional justice process did indeed fail them. In addition, it broadens the discussion by looking at how Romaphobia is both a cause and a consequence of this marginalisation. As such, the thesis illustrates how the transitional justice process also failed Romanies by not denouncing Romaphobia, but rather inadvertently reinforcing it, thus being partly to blame for the continued presence of Romaphobia in the Federal Republic of Germany. In so doing, the thesis highlights the importance of redressing the wrongs committed against victims, emphasising the need for transitional justice mechanisms in the aftermath of violence and human rights abuses.

The Herero/Nama Genocide (1904-1908) under German colonialism in Namibia is the first genocide of the twentieth century and has stirred debates around reparations for historical injustices. Reparative Justice has evolved into a victim-centric pillar of justice, in which perpetrators are legally and morally obligated to pay reparations in its several forms to its victims, including material and symbolic reparations. This thesis is a case study of reparations claims for historical injustices, specifically colonial genocide and explores such claims as a political process. Firstly, defining victims of genocide is a political process in which colonial atrocities have been blanketed by a lawless cover, previously ignoring the rights of the former colonised. The acknowledgement of genocide victims is a not only a necessary step to claiming reparations, but is part of Reparative Justice in which the perpetrator recognises its victims, offers a formal apology and make amends to the victims’ satisfaction. The acknowledgement of the Herero and Nama as victims of genocide has taken over a century for the German government to admit. Secondly, reparations claims is a political process in which requests are demanded and/or negotiated between perpetrator and victim. Germany’s previous foreign policy avoided terms such as 'genocide’ and 'reparations’, which has been a form of colonial amnesia. Namibian actors cannot easily forget the weight of the genocide and have had to negotiate and demand overdue justice in the face of colonial amnesia. Victim groups often do not speak with one voice, as noted in the Herero group, which is divided into general two camps: the Riruako group and the Maherero group. Under Paramount Chief Riruako, and his successor Rukoro, the Ovaherero Traditional Authority (OTA) have made several reparations claims to Germany over the last three decades. The Namibian government has previously played an unsupportive role, due to Germany’s annual development aid, which has undermined the position of the Riruako group. However, Riruako’s Motion on the Ovaherero Genocide in 2006, was unanimously passed and requested that the Namibian government facilitates negotiations between Germany and representatives of the affected communities. The two governments have since entered formal negotiations on how to address the past, however this has been resented by the OTA and some reparations organisations, who argue that the Namibian government have taken the lead on negotiations, rather than facilitate them. Those participating in government negotiations are the Maherero group, and those who have refused to join is the Riruako group, who have lodged a lawsuit in 2017 against the German government for reparations. In 2015, the German government admitted that its shared history with Namibia involved genocide. However, this acknowledgement has transferred limited power to the Namibian actors who continue to be undermined as 'equal’ counterparts to the German government. The German government continue to negotiate on their terms of redress, and have claimed state immunity towards the lawsuit. Therefore, there are small traces of colonial amnesia in Germany’s conduct despite its recent change in foreign policy.

The ongoing reconciliation process in Canada has been criticized for failing to recognize the larger project of ongoing settler colonialism and for its inability to meaningfully respond to the aspirations and demands of Indigenous peoples for self-determination. However, in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s final report, the important recommendation was made for Canada to adopt the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the most accomplished proclamation of Indigenous peoples’ rights, especially their right to selfdetermination, as the framework for reconciliation in the country. Following the Commission’s recommendation, the Canadian government committed itself to implementing the Declaration, including its free, prior and informed consent requirement, into the country’s legislation. This is significant for settler colonial violence in Canada continues to manifest itself in a multitude of ways, including through imposed resource extraction projects and environmental violence, which dispossesses Indigenous peoples of their land, violating their right to self-determined social, cultural and economic development, and thus, denying them their dignity. Through an application of Atuahene’s theoretical framework of Dignity Takings and Dignity Restoration, this dissertation conceptualizes eliminatory resource exploitation projects and associated environmental violence as dignity takings in a settler colonial context, whereby Indigenous peoples are dispossessed of their land, as well as their right to self-determination. It then explores the potential role the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples free, prior and informed consent requirement, which affirms that Indigenous people should make decisions on matters affecting their lands and/or people, can have for meaningfully restoring Indigenous peoples’ dignity, and thereby affirming their unqualified right to self-determination in settler colonial Canada. The findings demonstrate that while the free, prior and informed consent requirement’s regulatory and normative framework at the international level has the potential to meaningfully restore dignity to Indigenous peoples in theory, an assessment of the requirement’s implementation in the Canadian context reveals the considerable influence national politics and institutional norms have in shaping the requirement’s effective implementation, operationalization and dignity restoring potential.