This study aims to analyze if the assessment of the European Court of Human Rights and Committee Against Torture in cases concerning women alleging violation of the principle of non-refoulement takes gender into consideration. Therefore, this study compares four cases from the Court and the other four cases from the Committee with feminist legal theory analysis. The method chosen for this study is a comparative legal method and textual analysis to investigate the research problem. The findings of this study are that the Committee's evaluation is more in line with the intersectionality perspective than the Court's. Further, the Court showed stereotypes and gender discrimination with their assessments. Although the Committee is also lacking in considering gender as far as the observed cases the Committee is more advanced with the intersectionality lens. The Court frequently depends on the "male or social network," which is another distinction between the two monitoring organizations. Because the Court does not mention "male network" to European women alleging domestic violence, this contributes to the already discriminations refugee and asylum seeker women experience. The thesis concludes that women seeking asylum or refugee cases experience the most discrimination before the Court, though occasionally before the Committee as well. The refugee law still has a long way to go before it can assist women who claim that private actors have abused them.

"In the past 40 years these various procedures and outputs of the United Nations Human Rights Treaty System (UNHRTS) have gradually become sophisticated, developed and strengthened. It has made contributions to the promotion and protection of human rights. Despite its achievements, however, it also faces serious challenges and weaknesses, which induces some insider commentators to evaluate it as 'a system in crisis' and to criticise the whole system as one that urgently needs 'a complete overhaul'. From time to time, several proposals were made to improve the situation. However, the underlying problems persisted. Thus further and radical calls for re-organisation of the monitoring mechanism of the UNHRTS into a Unified and Standing Treaty Monitoring Body (USTMB) was made very recently. A further call for consolidation was made more explicit subsequently. In March 2006 the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) has issued a Concept Paper proposing to consolidate the current treaty monitoring bodies (TMBs) into a USTMB in an attempt to address the persistent problems the UNHTRS monitoring mechanism has been facing. A proposal regarded as too radical by many insiders of the UNHRTS. In view of the serious weaknesses of the UNHRTS monitoring mechanism, the initiated reform is a positive step. However, in seeking to introduce reform, and particularly within the UNHRTS, great caution is important not to throw the baby with water in the reform process. There is real concern about squandering, in the name of reform, the progress achieved over the last decades. In order to introduce an effective reform, it is important to be aware of [what] has worked and what has not, and make strategic choices based on these insights. In view of the proposed USTMB as a solution to the weakness of the system, balancing the reform initiative so that it will inherit the positive legacies while redressing the weakness is, therefore, a major contemporary concern." -- Introduction. / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2006. / Prepared under the supervision of Mr. E.Y. Benneh at the Faculty of Law, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/academic_pro/llm1/dissertations.html / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

The study provides a brief overview of the most important legal instruments in the international, regional and national framework on the development and promotion of children’s rights. Basically, it examines the continuous and pervasive violation of children’s rights despite the progressive instruments that have been adopted to ensure the proper and effective realization of these rights. It focuses on three different countries in Africa: South Africa, Ethiopia and Nigeria because of the value-laden nature of the progressive laws adopted by these countries in the protection of children’s rights. Specific roles and actions taken by international, regional and national monitoring bodies are highlighted to indicate their effectiveness in promoting and fulfilling rights for children. Country reports on the situation of children are examined in the context of realization of salient rights for children amidst the different judicial, political and socio-cultural settings. Emerging judgments and judicial developments that have limited and advanced the realization of rights for children in the specific country context were explored. Conclusions and recommendations are made. / Public, Constitutional, & International Law / LLM

The study provides a brief overview of the most important legal instruments in the international, regional and national framework on the development and promotion of children’s rights. Basically, it examines the continuous and pervasive violation of children’s rights despite the progressive instruments that have been adopted to ensure the proper and effective realization of these rights. It focuses on three different countries in Africa: South Africa, Ethiopia and Nigeria because of the value-laden nature of the progressive laws adopted by these countries in the protection of children’s rights. Specific roles and actions taken by international, regional and national monitoring bodies are highlighted to indicate their effectiveness in promoting and fulfilling rights for children. Country reports on the situation of children are examined in the context of realization of salient rights for children amidst the different judicial, political and socio-cultural settings. Emerging judgments and judicial developments that have limited and advanced the realization of rights for children in the specific country context were explored. Conclusions and recommendations are made. / Public, Constitutional, and International Law / LL. M.