The Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System is one of the world’s largest transboundary fossil aquifers and stretches underneath the territories of the North African States of Egypt, Libya, Sudan and Chad. All four States have strong Islamic cultural backgrounds, and Egypt, Libya and Sudan have enshrined Shari'a as a fundamental source of law in their constitutions. This thesis assesses the extent to which the 2008 Draft Articles on the Law of Transboundary Aquifers, proposed to the UN General Assembly by the International Law Commission, are compatible with general principles of Islamic water law. Both the 2008 Draft Articles as the current culmination of international groundwater law and Islamic law suffer from certain shortcomings. Whilst the former lacks the same binding authority Islamic law enjoys and to date does not elaborate the potential issue of water commercialisation in water scarce regions, the latter lacks the transboundary perspective in relation to groundwater. This highlights the impact Islamic law could have on the on-going negotiations between the NSAS Aquifer States, whereby specific Islamic provisions could provide stepping-stones towards an innovative utilisation framework for the NSAS that adequately addresses the need for precaution and intergenerational equity, which, inter alia, could instil new impetus for a refined set of Draft Articles. An alternative future is likely to evolve along the lines of separate agreements and a more fragmented corpus of international law rather than a coherent body of codified international law on transboundary fossil aquifers, which would run counter to the International Law Commission’s objective.

The present thesis evaluates the international legal standing of the right to a remedy and reparation contained in the UN Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Gross Violations of Human Rights and Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law. It focuses on two aspects of the right to a remedy and reparation. First, it examines the application of state responsibility principles to the relationship between states and individuals when human rights and international humanitarian law violations are committed. Secondly, it analyses the convergence of norms of state liability in different branches of international law: human rights law, the law on diplomatic protection, international humanitarian law, and international criminal law. It advances the proposition that state responsibility for reparation in favour of individuals has crystallised in international law. The thesis is divided in four chapters. The first is an introductory chapter. It defines the scope and objective of the study, and identifies and maps the existing scholarly positions on the right to a remedy and reparation for individuals under international law. Chapter 2 describes the law of state responsibility for injuries to aliens and its relationship to the right to reparation in human rights law. Chapter 3 explores the right to reparation for international humanitarian law violations. As a conclusion, Chapter 4 assesses whether the Principles and Guidelines reflect the standards of international law previously analysed. It looks at whether principles of state responsibility can apply to the relationship between individuals and states – a basic presumption of this instrument that was also one of the main sources of contention during the drafting and adoption process at the UN. It concludes that individuals can invoke state responsibility directly under contemporary international law through an actionable right to reparation for serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law that constitute international wrongful acts.

La réponse efficace à la plupart des menaces contre la paix, qui concernent désormais l’ensemble de la communauté internationale, exige une action collective. C’est dans cet esprit, l’ONU est considérée comme un instrument indispensable pour délibérer et agir sur ces menaces. Dans cet esprit, la réforme des Nations Unies est nécessaire pour permettre à l’Organisation de s’adapter aux évolutions du monde, de tirer les leçons des expériences passées (Rwanda, Srebrenica) et de moderniser l’action internationale. Ces réformes devraient renforcer l’autorité et la légitimité de l’Organisation, et la rendre plus efficace. / Brining an effective response to the majority of the threats against the peace, which concerns from now on the international community, requires a collective action. It is in this spirit, the UN is regarded as an essential instrument to deliberate and act on these threats. In this spirit, the reform of the United Nations is necessary to permit the Organization to adapt to the evolutions of the world, to learn the lessons from the last experiences (Rwanda, Srebrenica) and to modernize the international action etc. So, it is necessary to reinforce the authority and the legitimacy of the Organization, to make it more effective.

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This project explores the issue of selectivity within contemporary international politics, particularly in relation to the implementation of the United Nations’ Responsibility to Protect principle, from a postcolonial perspective. It argues that in order to fully understand the selective implementation of policy in contemporary contexts, it is necessary to examine the historical origins of the United Nations and to highlight the institutionalisation of postcolonial privilege in international political organisations. Through the use of archival data, it shows that the United Nations is an institution that has been committed to the perpetuation of colonial power structures through the development of new forms of government and structures of control, relying on problematic discourses of civilisation and progress that legitimate a global power structure that has its roots in colonialism. It begins with the provision of an alternative historical narrative that highlights the significance of colonialism in the founding of the United Nations and that seeks to undermine the discourse of equality that is frequently attributed to the organisation. It then moves on to explore more concrete examples of the structures of the United Nations that have allowed for the continuation of colonial power relations before examining these ideas in relation to the contemporary politics of intervention, particularly focusing on the role of the Security Council as the locus of postcolonial and neocolonial power.

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In 1946, the United Nations inaugurated the Technical Assistance Programme, a new and international application of "mutual aid" and "self-help" principles. There are many aspects to these programmes, which focus particularly on raising standards of living through increased productivity in the "under-developed" countries. The present study singles out the social welfare activities only, starting in the Advisory Social Welfare Services (1946), and the Expanded Programme of Technical Assistance which followed. The method adopted is twofold: (1) An examination of the major principles of Technical Assistance, (a) as enunciated in official statements of policy, and (b) as indicated in operational practice. The significance of the use of experts, U.N. fellowships, seminars, and demonstration projects is explored in this light. (2) The principles of Technical Assistance are compared, in broad terms, with the basic principles of social work. One of the important by-products of Technical Assistance Administration, an international survey of professional social work, and a definitive statement of the nature of social work skills, is referred to in this connection. As a means of highlighting the principles and methods of the advisory social welfare services, two countries are referred to as examples of a receiving country (Guatemala) and a contributing country (Canada). They serve in conclusion to illustrate the interrelatedness of welfare programmes with local needs, with education for social work, and with overall national policies. A major part of the material used for this study is derived from United Nations documents, available from library sources. It is supplemented by essential data from the United Nations Headquarters and from Canadian Government agencies concerned with participation in these programmes. Interviews with Canadian social welfare personnel who have participated in several of the programmes helped considerably to compensate for the need of first-hand material in the role of advisers, and the problems and procedures of fellowship and scholarship programmes. A number of points were also clarified by correspondence. The study reveals positive achievements in practical methods of promoting peace, which deserve greater publicity. Much more remains to be done; of most relevance for social work, however, is perhaps the need for increased professional writing on the field experience of social worker participants, and further research directed to analysis of methods, process, and results. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

The aim of this thesis is to show that, although the various phases of the membership controversy are fundamentally a part of the overall Soviet -Western crisis, the immediate reason for their development stems not only from the dominant position that the United States occupies internationally but as well from the extreme overbalance of representation in the United Nations in favour of the Americas. This situation, not the free use of the veto by the Soviet Union, is mainly responsible for the stalemate in the admission of new members. The Soviet Union has felt compelled to use its veto lavishly in an effort to protect and strengthen its minority role in the United Nations. It is because the USSR regards the veto in this light that any suggestion to abolish it as far as admission of new members is concerned is completely impractical. The issue would not be of primary import if the Western States had used their preponderant voting power responsibly and the practice of bloc voting had not become such a prominent feature of the United Nations. But these developments which are partially attributable to the existing state of international tension have made the membership composition of the United Nations a matter of great concern, especially to the USSR. In these circumstances it is not surprising that Article 4 has received little more than lip service. Both the Soviet and Western blocs have set up a standard of admission for their own candidates which differs substantially from that applied to candidates of the other. This has left each side open to charges of discrimination and neither has been slow in pointing out the iniquities of the other's obstinacy. In the eyes of the Secretary General of the United Nations, who is well qualified to judge, all the disappointed applicants would qualify if the standard set by Article 4 was administered reasonably. In harmony with this view the USSR has offered what seems to be the only fair compromise, that it will vote for the Western candidates if the Western states will vote for the Soviet candidates. The stalemate is perpetuated because the Western bloc unwisely chooses to regard this offer to compromise as a 'horse trade' or 'blackmail.' A new twist to the membership controversy has been supplied by the fact that there are two claimants to the seat held in the name of China. This is not a question of admitting a new state but merely one of representation. The difficulty in the case of China is that the de facto government, which should logically occupy the seat, is in conflict with: the military forces of the United Nations, which in the view of the majority disqualifies that government from taking its rightful place. This representation question must eventually be resolved in favour of the Central People's Government or the United Nations will place itself in the position of denying representation to the 450 million people of China, the majority of whom seem to support the Peking Government. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

This study examined the nature of the apparent increases in grade 12 enrolment patterns of status Indians in British Columbia from 1949 to 1985 in the light of a theory of context. This theory assumes that education takes place in, and is affected by, a context of conditions both external and internal to education. The external factors assumed to affect student achievement are the prevailing social, political, and economic conditions while the internal factors assumed to affect student achievement are curriculum and teacher characteristics. Historical evidence confirmed that a contextual change took place within the dominant society. This change was characterized as a move from a condition in which the dominant society excluded minorities (exclusion) to one in which the dominant society included minorities (inclusion) coincident with the apparent grade 12 enrolment increases of status Indians in British Columbia during the period covered by the study. When the enrolments were subjected to time-series analysis the results showed that the grade 12 enrolments had increased significantly between 1949 and 1985. This finding supported the hypothesis that inclusion was positively associated with academic achievement as measured by enrolment into grade 12. Inclusion by the dominant society was seen to have evoked at least two responses by Indian groups. Therefore, although a positive association between inclusion and academic achievement has been established it was necessary to compare contrasting responses to inclusion. For this purpose two British Columbia bands which were similar in terms of geographic, demographic, and cultural characteristics, but different in terms of their control of education, were selected. Band A was identified as having chosen to remain under government control with respect to Indian education between 1976 and 1985 while Band B had chosen to exercise Indian control with respect to Indian education during the same period. Their respective grade 12 enrolment patterns were then subjected to time-series analysis which revealed a significant difference in enrolment patterns. Band A's enrolment pattern was both linear and stationary, indicating a consistent level of enrolment over time. Band B's enrolment pattern, however, showed an abrupt constant intervention effect (significant at the .05 level, t=7.79) beginning at 1979. Since both bands began their enrolment pattern at about the same level, Band B's significant enrolment increase supported the prediction that Indian control of Indian education was positively associated with academic achievement as measured by grade 12 enrolments of status Indians while Band A's stationary enrolment pattern supported the hypothesis that government control of Indian education was associated with no increase in academic achievement as measured by enrolment into grade 12. The findings of this study indicate the explanatory value of a theory of context for academic achievement. Not only does the study suggest that improved student achievement of status Indians in British Columbia as measured by enrolment into grade 12 is found in a favorable context of external and internal conditions, but the study also suggests the necessity for a proactive response to these conditions. One such proactive response is Indian control of Indian education. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate