This study investigates the following questions: (1) What is the rationale behind the participation of National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) in regional and international human rights mechanisms? (2) What is the role of NHRIs in relation to regional and international human rights mechanisms? (3) What is the role and what could be the role of NHRIs in the work of the African Commission? (4) What are the areas that the NHRIs can work with the African Commission to strengthen the protection of human rights within their jurisdictions and in Africa? (5) What rules should govern the relationship between the African Commission and NHRIs? The study will further contribute to the broader understanding of the role of NHRIs at the regional level, with particular reference to Africa, and how that can benefit the African Commission and Africa in general / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2008. / A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Law University of Pretoria, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Masters of Law (LLM in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa). Prepared under the supervision of Prof J. Oloka-Onyango from the Human Rights and Peace Centre (HURIPEC), Faculty of Law, Makerere University, Uganda / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/ / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

"The study aims at exposing the uncertainties that surround the meaning and enforcement of environmental rights. The new South African constitutional dispensation and how it relates to the enforcement of environmental rights has been chosen as a case study. The South African situation is believed to be exemplary when it comes to the enforcement of fundamental freedoms. The South African Constitution provides for environmental rights alongh with mechanisms for their enforcement. The constitution also requires that legislative and policy measures are put in place to give effect to the rights in the Constituion. South Africa also has an idependent and rights oriented Constitutional Court that is capable of handing down decisions that can inspire the development of environmental rights jurisprudence. ... The work is divided into five chapters. Chapter one introduces the work. Chapter two is a conceptual framework that attempts to summarise different concepts surrounding the idea of environmental rights. Chapter three is on comparative jurisprudence, aimed at exposing existing global trends on the enforcement of environmental rights. Chapter four deals with the enforcement of environmental rights under the South African Constitution. Concluding remarks and recommendations are made in Chapter five." -- Chapter 1. / Supervised by George Agyeman Sarpong / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2001. / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/academic_pro/llm1/dissertations.html / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (AfCHPR) was created amidst great criticism to the ineffectiveness of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (AfCmHPR) in protecting human rights on the content. After much debate, spanning four decades the Protocol on the Establishment of an African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the Protocol) was adopted by the Organisation of African Unity Assembly and entered into force on the 25th of January 2004. Later the 4th AU summit in January 2006 elected the eleven judges of the Court. / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2011. / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/ / nf2012 / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

In this thesis, three perspectives on the justification of intellectual property rights are investigated in the light of conflicting socioeconomic human rights. This is done by using a comparative method, where the perspectives chosen are reviewed through the lense of rights as legitimate claims, as well as accessibility of rights. The purpose is to review as to how the ownership of ideas and inventions can be justified in relation to the socioeconomic challenges faced in many parts of the world. The principal research question is: How can intellectual property rights be justified and how can it be evaluated against the backdrop of socioeconomic rights and moral obligations? To answer this question, I posed three sub-questions: First, how are intellectual property rights justified in the existing research chosen as an entry point for this thesis? Drawn from this, how can the justification of intellectual property rights be understood as a moral concern in a socioeconomically unequal world? Taking a cue from this, what questions need to be answered to better understand the transnational moral obligations linked to intellectual property rights? By reviewing the perspectives presented on the justification of intellectual property rights, I make three concluding statements ​— intellectual property rights cannot be justified in cases where they affect other individuals’ socioeconomic rights negatively; excessive benefits gained for creators is not morally reasonable; and the unequal distribution of power and opportunities in relation to transnational moral responsibilities need to be recognised.

Child participation is one of the fundamental principles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), which South Africa ratified in 1995, together with (a) the best interest of the child; (b) survival, protection and development; and (c) non-discrimination (Hodgkin&Newell, 2002:17). It can be viewed as one of the cornerstones of child rights (and also human rights) as far as the Convention is concerned. The strongest foundations for children’s right to participation in society can be found in universally agreed upon human rights treaties as well as domestic laws. These provide, either directly or by interpretation, for the right of children to participate in claiming their civil and political rights (first order rights) as well as their social, economic and cultural rights (second order rights). It is apparent that the construction of childhood by the adult portion of society directly affects children’s ability to claim and execute their right to participation as citizens. These constructions of childhood are largely determined by the large differences in power between children and adults, where adults hold the power and decide when and how much power will be given to children, and by children’s perceived status as “lesser” than adults and, as such, needing to behave and respond in certain ways. Both these perceptions influence the meaningful participation of children. Despite progression being made globally on the importance and value of children’s participation, there remains a tension between children’s right to participation and society’s construct of children and childhood. While this tension prevails, it is important that mechanisms be found that will ensure that children’s right to participation is executed in a way that will ensure that society’s perceptions of childhood do not influence the quality of meaningful participation. Authentic and meaningful participation can be safeguarded by ensuring that participation occurs within a framework that spells out the ethical principles to which child participation should adhere. Research was undertaken to explore the foundations of child participation as a fundamental right, and to develop ethical principles for child participation for use in practice. As part of a qualitative study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with adult experts in child participation, and focus group discussions were held with children involved in child participation. From the study it was concluded that ethical principles for child participation are important to ensure that children are enabled to participate in an authentic and meaningful manner in all matters that affect them and their communities. Based on the findings and the conclusion, a framework for the ethical principles of child participation was developed. Recommendations included the following: <ul> <li> Publishing and dissemination of the framework for the ethical principles of child participation.</li> <li> Monitoring of child participation to ensure that it is ethical.</li> <li> Training in ethical child participation for all role players.</li></ul> / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Social Work and Criminology / unrestricted

This dissertation analyzes the limits of international human rights law (IHRL) in the Arab region. It examines two case studies representing opposing ends of the human rights spectrum. The first focuses on Tunisia, understood to be the only democratic and free country in the region, while the second pertains to the occupied Palestinian territories, which continues to endure the longest territorial occupation in modern history. These two cases illustrate circumstances under which extralegal strategies for diminishing human suffering become not only possible but necessary. In both contexts, arguments rooted in the normative logic of international human rights law have failed and its formal legal and procedural mechanisms have been exhausted. This dissertation seeks to examine precisely the extralegal and sometimes radical logics that have arisen in this new liminal space as alternatives to and complements of the formal structures of IHRL.

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This thesis provides a historical study of the Canadian government's changing foreign policy toward the development of an international bill of rights at the United Nations from the 1940s to the 1970s. Canada was initially reluctant to support international human rights instruments because the concept of 'universal human rights' articulated at the UN challenged customary understandings of civil liberties in Canada, and federal policy makers felt an international bill of rights would have a negative impact on domestic policy. By the 1970s, however, the Canadian government was pushing for the ratification of the International Covenants on Human Rights and working to present Canada as an advocate for the UN's human rights regime. This study considers this change in policy by examining the domestic and global factors that influenced the government's approach to international human rights. Within Canada, rights activism led to increased public awareness of human rights issues, and transformed Canadian understandings of rights and of the role of government in promoting these rights. This led to pressure on the Canadian government to support human rights initiatives at the United Nations. In this same period, the geopolitics of the Cold War and the rise of anti-colonialism shaped debates at the UN over human rights. As global support for the UN's human rights instruments grew, Canada became the subject of criticism from other states. Concerned about the negative implications, at home and within the international community, of appearing to stand in opposition to the principles of human rights, Ottawa changed its policy. Despite the government’s new rhetoric of support for the international bill of rights, however, federal policy makers continued to question the benefit of these instruments for Canada. This lack of commitment accounts, at least in part, for Canada’s continued failure to fully implement its international human rights obligations. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The State of Texas is endowed with many valuable resources. It has vast oil and gas deposits, huge timber reserves, and land in abundance. Not least among its re sources is water, the key resource. It is water, even before food, which sustains all life on this earth. Without water the human processes of agriculture, industry, and commerce would be impossible. Water serves as a major source of energy, transportation, and recreation. It is not a risky statement to make that water, above everything else on this earth except land, permits man to exist.

The aim of this research is to explore education policies through Tibbitts’ human rights education (HRE) models and to explore the practices in teaching HRE through education policies (i.e., civic education curriculum - CEC) and Tibbitts’ three models of HRE. For the aim to be reached CEC was analyzed and three primary school teachers were interviewed. These led to conclusions that, in regard to the models Vales and Awareness Model seems to take the most space in teaching with some implications of Transformation Model. The CEC is used to a varying degree and its usage seems to depend on the subject. As such, compatibility of teachers’ practices with CEC varies. In developing their understanding, knowledge, and pedagogical tools teachers strongly rely on their personal values and self-study. Additionally, the school environment calls for some improvements for it to become truly rights-respecting.