Law Commons^™

An Examination Of The International Court Of Justice’S Approach To Customary International Law, Janet Adewumi Bamigbose

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Article 38(1) of the Statute of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is regarded as the pre-eminent authority on the sources of public international law. Of the sources in this Article, none has been questioned as much as international custom, also referred to as customary international law. The ICJ has ruled that customary international law crystallizes when there is a conjugation of state practice and opinio juris, the subjective feeling by states that they must undertake the state practice. However, that seemingly simple definition leads to several questions: what amounts to state practice? How is opinio juris measured? Are …

The Problems Facing The International Criminal Court: African Perspectives, Sarah Nimigan

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Since the establishment of the International Criminal Court (ICC), it has faced serious problems and has been subject to criticism, particularly from African states. More specifically, some African states have argued that the operation of the Court has produced outcomes that are vastly different from what was imagined and hoped for at the time the Court was negotiated in 1998. The dissertation answers four interrelated research questions: (1) What kind of International Criminal Court (ICC) did African states want prior to and during the Rome Diplomatic Conference in 1998? (2) Why did African states ratify the Rome Statute more than …

A 'Critical Mass' Approach To Negotiations In The Wto: A Case Study Analysis, Temitope O. Adeyemi

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The thesis examines the viability of the ‘critical mass’ approach to negotiations as a proper substitute for conventional negotiating formats in present and future World Trade Organization (WTO) trade negotiations. The thesis provides an overview of the traditional negotiating formats in the WTO and its predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade of 1947 (GATT 1947). A case study approach is adopted in the thesis to explain the concept of the critical mass-based negotiating modality in the WTO context. The primary case studies are the existing WTO Information Technology Agreement, the WTO Basic Telecommunication Agreement, the WTO Financial Services …

Safeguarding The Principle Of Non-Refoulement In Europe: Counteracting Containment Policies In The Common European Asylum System, Jenny Hiu Kwan Poon

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis examines the interpretation and application of the principle of non-refoulement within the Common European Asylum System (CEAS), a system designed to enhance the fair-sharing of responsibilities among European Union (EU) Member States and to enhance harmonizatio*n on the application of EU law. It argues that the laws and policies of the CEAS have led to an increased potential to violate non-refoulement. While the norm of non-refoulement itself is defined in a robust manner in both international and European law, the actual practice of that law is far from compliant with minimal standards.

The thesis begins by explaining the …

Improving Civilian Protection During War Through Conflict-Specific Behavioural Regulation Of Combatants, Kirsten Md Stefanik

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis advances the claim that there is a gap between the regulation of behaviour for the protection of individuals in peace and the regulations needed to protect civilians from combatant violence during war. Social psychology and criminology theories can help to develop the necessary conflict-specific behavioural regulations. This is because social psychology and criminology theories can explain how combatant deviance is adversely affected by psychological processes that reframe combatants’ conceptions of right and wrong and, in so doing, fundamentally alter the way in which combatants view the IHL rules intended to protect civilians. This thesis uses legal doctrinal methodology …

A Study Of Six Nations Public Library: Rights And Access To Information, Alison Frayne

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Contemporary Indigenous public libraries play a critical role in providing access to information in Indigenous communities. My research focuses on the relationship between rights and access to information for individuals and communities within the context of Indigenous public libraries. I use a qualitative case study methodology of the Six Nations Public Library (SNPL) in Ohsweken, Ontario, Canada. Interviews were conducted with SNPL patrons and library management and with off-reserve participants from government and library associations.

I analyse four themes, library governance, rights, library value and access to information, which are outcomes of the SNPL case study findings. This analysis reveals …

Unilateral Non-Colonial Secessions: An Affirmation Of The Right To Self-Determination And A Legal Exception To The Use Of Force In International Law, Ilya Berlin

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Secession has contributed to nearly 50 intra-state armed conflicts around the world, and remains a complex issue in public international law. Over the past 72 years, several cases stand out as providing evidence of state practice with regards to invoking a successful right to unilateral secession: Bangladesh, Croatia, South Sudan, East Timor, Eritrea and Kosovo, to name a few. However, apart from invoking a right to secession, these cases also share a common factor that legitimized their independence: their Unilateral Non-Colonial (UNC) secessions became legal as a result of two factors: (i) an invocation of a right to self-determination which …

Achieving Equality For Women In Labour And Employment – A Comparative Study Of Colombia And Canada, Lina M. Hernandez

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The primary focus of this thesis is to analyze and compare the legal systems enacted to protect working women in Colombia and Canada. This thesis focuses on: the protection of maternity and parental rights; the principle of equal pay for work of equal value; and discrimination in employment (including harassment). This research argues that the legislative and judicial changes made in each country to protect working women have not led to substantive equality for working women. This thesis also argues that there is a gap between international and national standards, thus a law reform is appropriate and needed in both …

The Right To Food And The Right To Intellectual Property In The United Nations (Including International Human Rights) And International Trade: Finding The Definition, Darinka Tomic

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Intellectual property (IP) is omnipresent in both the context of the United Nations (UN) system (including international human rights law and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)), and international trade law, while the right to food has a much lower international profile. IP moved into international trade in 1994 through the TRIPS Agreement. The right to food has no presence in international trade. These two rights are the focus of this study – but are contrasted with several other rights: the right to health and the rights of persons with disabilities. The right to health was not present in …

Re-Imagining The Principle Of National Treatment: Addressing Private International Law Issues In Copyright Infringement In The Internet Era, Ragavi Ramesh

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation examines the principle of National Treatment enshrined in international copyright treaties to address private international law issues in copyright infringement occurring over the Internet. The thesis provides a brief overview of private international law and analyzed the principle of National Treatment as a private international law rule determining jurisdiction and applicable law. The primary case studies in the thesis include an analysis of the rules adopted in copyright disputes by courts in England, France, the United States and Canada in the pre- and post-Internet contexts, as well as a discussion of the European Union as an exception to …

Elusive Peace, Security, And Justice In Post-Conflict Guatemala: An Exploration Of Transitional Justice And The International Commission Against Impunity In Guatemala (Cicig), Daniel W. Schloss

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Guatemala has, until today, struggled to achieve security and justice following the end of nearly half a century of civil war in 1996. One specific institution, the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), has been implemented to rectify many of the Guatemalan state’s difficulties in establishing and maintaining the rule of law. In this thesis, I look to better explain CICIG’s role in Guatemala relative to security and justice in a post-conflict setting: I define CICIG as an institution potentially capable of building societal trust, and I explain how the inclusion of procedural justice within transitional justice can help …

Explaining The Establishment Of The Independent Prosecutor Of The International Criminal Court, Laszlo Sarkany

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The aim of this dissertation is to discern and explain why states established the International Criminal Court (ICC) with an independent Prosecutor with the aid of theories of international relations. The theories utilized were neorealism, neoliberal institutionalism, historical institutionalism, constructivism and liberal-pluralism. In order to complete the above-stated task, two supplemental questions were asked: first, how may one able to explain policy formulation in regards to the ICC; and second, what accounts for the victory of the supporters. The comparative case study method of the ‘method of agreement’ was employed. Canada and the United Kingdom – from among the supporters …

Transnational Corporate Regulation Through Sustainability Reporting: A Case Study Of The Canadian Extractive Sector, Navraj S. Pannu

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Despite the benefits transnational corporations (TNCs) offer, they remain largely unregulated entities, enabling environmental, social, and human rights violations to be overlooked. Canadian extractive sector TNCs operating internationally are frequently cited as major perpetrators of such violations. Literature on new governance and self-regulation as well as global corporate social responsibility (CSR) increasingly offers disclosure and reporting as a solution for TNC regulation. This study examines disclosure in international CSR frameworks, and the reflexive law and new governance theories explaining the role of such disclosure and reporting. Mirroring international CSR initiatives, Canadian jurisdictions are increasingly recommending disclosure for its extractive sector …

Emissions Trading: A Policy Option For Fighting Climate Change In Africa, Gbenga Akinwande

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis shows how an emissions trading scheme can help African countries contribute to the goal of stabilizing the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. This is done through an assessment of the gaps in Africa’s climate change mitigation policy architecture and the potential benefits of emissions trading as a policy instrument—including lessons learned from emissions trading schemes implemented in the US, the EU, New Zealand, and Chile. The thesis concludes that adopting an emissions trading scheme as a policy instrument in Africa could potentially close the gaps in its policy architecture.

Restoring Humanity To Humanitarian Law: Borrowing From Environmental Law To Protect Civilians And The Environment, Kirsten Md Stefanik

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

As concerns about the environment increase and civilians continue to become casualties of armed conflict, we must reflect on traditional approaches and applications of International Humanitarian law [IHL]. While the current state of IHL provides protections for civilians and the environment, examples in practice of excessive harms to both suggest a gap exists in these protections. Current academic literature in the field tends to focus on either the protection of civilians or the protection of the environment, on either IHL or International Environmental law [IEL]. This is problematic as the two are inextricably linked: civilians and environment often, if not …

Indigenous Peoples Under International Law: An Asian Perspective, Tashi Phuntsok

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis analyzes Asian understandings of the definition of indigenous peoples in international law. The rights of indigenous peoples have emerged strongly in the international domain, culminating in 2007 with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Yet, the question of definition and identity of indigenous peoples remains uncertain and indeterminate, at least from an Asian perspective. Traditionally indigenous peoples are understood to be those who were victims of European colonial settlements. It is the aim of this research to find out whether indigenous peoples exist in Asia by analyzing the approaches taken by select Asian states …