Includes abstract.~Includes bibliographical references. / The thesis aims to establish the highest possible standards under international law to regulate the use of drones. It therefore seeks to suggest ways by which greater certainty and clarity can be brought to the law by determining which specific normative regime - selfdefence, humanitarian law or human rights - is most appropriate for the circumstance in which targeted killing is contemplated.

Targeted killing by drones has become a common tool of lethal force in the "war on terrorism" in the past decade. Owing to the specific nature of targeted killing by drones and suspected terrorists, this method of warfare does not easily fall under one particular model of international law. The author will examine targeted killing of suspected terrorists under the law-enforcement model, the right of self-defense under article 51 of the United Nations Charter and the armed conflict model. The author will illustrate the difficulties of each model when subsuming targeted killing of suspected terrorists under it. Furthermore, this paper will refer to targeted killings perpetrated by the United States in Yemen and Pakistan under e ach model. On the basis of this examination, the author will discuss the need for a new model in order to cover the issue of targeted killing of suspected terrorists comprehensively. Afterwards, this paper proposes new models in order to cover this type of killing. In this context, this paper will also consider the effect of establishing such new legal model to the law itself.

Includes bibliographical references. / Research Objectives: First, to assess the normative framework for protection of the child from poverty as set by international and regional human and child rights instruments and accordingly, evaluate the scope and ability of Ugandan law and policy to protect the child from poverty. Secondly, to primarily analyse whether Ugandan law and policy adequately addresses child poverty in line with the recommendations and minimum standards set by the normative fr amework; and on this basis, if it is ‘fit for purpose’. Significance of the Study: To contribute a legal perspective on how to address child poverty and secondly, to create awareness of the diverse and changing manifestations of child poverty and generate strategic discussions for enhancement of child wellbeing.

This dissertation will primarily involve desk-based research to examine those provisions of the Liberian Children's Law that refer to measures preventing the use of children in armed conflict, measures protecting children from being used in armed conflict as well as measures reintegrating children into society who have participated in such violence in their past in light of CRC standards. Reference will also be made to scholarly contributions on children's rights in postconflict societies, reports on and documentation of the condition of child rights in Liberia and the relevant international and regional human rights instruments including the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. Among critiquing the Children's Law by comparing its standards to other international human rights instruments, feasibility of the Children's Law will be examined by considering 1) justiciability, 2) accessibility, and 3) enforceability as criteria indicating whether the Children's Law is a substantive document and proves effective in theory or not.

The purpose of this dissertation is to assess whether or not there is a universal human right to water. The problem of water scarcity and high death rates due to a lack of access to clean water is still prevalent across the globe today, making it hard to believe that a human right to water is still not codified in international law. This dissertation analyses international as well as national law to assess whether a human right to water is universally acknowledged by the international community despite not being codified. It is argued, that there is still no explicit universal human right to water in international law. However, this dissertation acknowledges that a human right to water does exist as a derivate right, which is almost universally acknowledged. As a derivative right, it is, however, not as equally strong as explicitly acknowledged rights in the core international human rights instruments. This dissertation also provides a brief overview of corporate involvement under the human right to water. An assessment is made as to whether or not international law imposes direct obligations and responsibilities on companies. It is argued in this dissertation that companies have a particular responsibility for the implementation of the human right to water despite states remaining the primary subjects responsible.

Includes bibliographical references. / The proceedings brought against Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy, William Ruto for post-election election violence in 2007 by the International Criminal Court has resulted in action by the African Union that undermines individual criminal responsibility for heads of state and government officials and for the promotion and protection of human rights in Africa. This thesis will assess whther the African Union’s decision to not cooperate with the International Criminal Court , and the adoption of Article 46A Bis of the Protocol on Amendments to the Protocol on the Statute of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights is unlawful under the principles of international law. This thesis will also assess how thes e decisions will impact Africa’s ability to promote and protect human rights on the continent.

Includes bibliographical references. / Does war still exist according to international law? On the one hand, the answer is obviously in the affirmative - hostilities including the use of force between states do take place and rules of international law regulating them do exist. Less obvious, however, is whether a state of war as a condition creating legal consequences not only for the parties involved, but also for other states, is still legally relevant. While there have been many conflicts since 1945, few of them have been characterized as “war” and no declarations of war have been made. Hence, there is a tendency to avoid the term “war” on the ground that it is “arcane” and largely superseded by the term “international armed conflict”. Moreover, it has been claimed that a state of war is incompatible with the UN Charter and therefore can no longer exist under international law so that a qualification of a conflict as “war” as opposed to “armed conflict” would have no legal consequences. This dissertation will examine whether the concept of war is still relevant and necessary despite the introduction of the modern concept of international armed conflict. In the course of answering it, three further questions need to be posed. First, is it compatible with the UN Charter to continue to invoke the concept of “war”? Second, what are the consequences of recognizing a state of war as a contemporary legal concept? Finally, are there any norms in international law which are applicable in a state of war only?

The right to work is a fundamental human right and regarded essential for a life in dignity. It is explicitly granted to refugees in international and regional law, as well as in numerous national constitutions. In practice, however, refugees have to overcome many obstacles in order to participate in working life in the host country. This paper uses South Africa and Germany as case studies to explore causes and remedies for this discrepancy. To this end, the legal provisions regarding the right to work and their implementation in practice in South Africa and Germany are assessed against the respective socio-economic background. Subsequently, proposals for a coherent future EU policy on the access to work and the promotion of refugee self-reliance as driven by the UN Global Compact on Refugees are made. South Africa is the scene of an increasingly restrictive handling of traditionally generous refugee laws. Administrative or bureaucratic hurdles undermine the right of refugees to work or receive social benefits. Xenophobia often leads to further marginalization against the backdrop of high unemployment. In Germany, protective labour market regulations have been gradually relaxed since 2013 to address labour shortage. However, new restrictions were introduced in 2018 that make it more difficult for asylum seekers in particular to access the labour market. As in South Africa, the long duration of asylum procedures and processing backlogs keep them in limbo for a long time with very limited work opportunities. Legal scholars and researchers agree that the realization of the right to work can increase social cohesion by turning formerly aid-dependent refugees into integrated, self-reliant, and contributing members of their host society. This gives rise to the call for targeted support measures to provide more effective access to fair, paid work for refugees as early as possible. In implementation of the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR), the EU should lead by example by applying a protection-based approach in their own legislation and policies and support developing countries in promoting refugee's self-reliance.

International law enjoys a considerable space in Malawi's domestic law as evidenced in several constitutional provisions that allow the application of international law in Malawi. While several constitutional provisions allow the application of international law in domestic law, the process of how international law forms part of the domestic law is provided under section 211 of the constitution of Malawi where it provides for instances of the direct and indirect application of treaties and CIL in Malawi's domestic law. This dissertation discusses the relationship between international law and domestic law in Malawi by analysing how the process of domesticating and applying international law in Malawi affects the development or growth of domestic law. Therefore, this dissertation answers the question of; to what extent is the process of domesticating and applying international law in Malawi affects the development of domestic law. To fully grasp the effects of domesticating and applying international law in Malawi, this dissertation will discuss the role and application of treaties and CIL in domestic law. It will be discussed that while some monist elements can be seen in the constitution, but the constitutional order and the courts agree that Malawi is predominantly a dualist state. The presence of the monist and dualist elements is an indication that changes in international law are likely to affect changes in domestic law through either the process of legislation by parliament interpretation of the law by courts. As a dualist state, the general position is that whenever a conflict arises between international law and domestic law, domestic law prevails. However, the courts as interpreters of the law in Malawi have taken a different approach of applying international law to the extent that they have consistently interpreted the law in a manner that avoids a conflict between international law and domestic law. It will be argued that the reason why the courts have developed a principle of avoiding a conflict between international law and domestic law is that the court as an arm of government is part of the government's efforts to fulfill its international obligations. Therefore, any attempt to invalidate such obligations in domestic law would be viewed that the government of Malawi is fighting itself. Therefore, whether the processes of transforming or incorporating international law into Malawi's domestic law is done through legislation or interpretation of the law by courts, it equally affects or influences changes or development of the domestic law in Malawi because whether it is legislation or courts decision, they are all binding law domestically.

Multilateral environmental agreements have exploded in number in the thirty-five years since the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (UNCHE) in Stockholm. Over the same period, there has been a considerable resurgence in the popularity of institutional approaches to the study of international relations (IR). This dissertation evaluates the different explanations for institutional design that are provided by three leading theoretical approaches to IR: realism, rational institutionalism, and constructivism.^ This dissertation argues that there are three critical elements of institutional form that any theory of institutional design must explain: membership, delegation, and flexibility. Membership encompasses two related concerns: first, who may participate in a given agreement, and, second, who must participate for an agreement to succeed. Delegation is understood in terms of its structure and substance: what resources and authority are delegated to third parties, and to what specific ends? Institutional flexibility can take three forms. Adaptive flexibility allows members temporarily to suspend participation in specific circumstances, transformative flexibility allows members to alter the terms of cooperation over time, and interpretive flexibility provides discretion to members in implementing agreement-related obligations.^ After reviewing recent literature on institutional design, the dissertation derives hypotheses from realist, rational institutionalist, and constructivist theory concerning each of these three elements of institutional form. These hypotheses point to the importance of five explanatory variables, distribution problems, enforcement problems, hegemony, the number of relevant states, and scientific uncertainty/knowledge.^ These hypotheses are tested against a database of international environmental agreements compiled by the author and based in part on the recently published International Regimes Database (IRD). Membership rules are found generally to reflect a norm of non-exclusion. Delegation is highly circumscribed among surveyed agreements, and is predicted primarily by the distribution of power among negotiating states. Finally, modest exceptions to reduce transaction costs notwithstanding, institutional flexibility is dramatically undersupplied compared to the expectation of rational institutionalist theory. The dissertation concludes by suggesting how these findings are relevant to ongoing theoretical debates, as well as policy debates concerning the reform of specific international environmental agreements and institutions.^