A comparative analysis of the causes for breaching the erga omnes obligation to prevent and prosecute gross human rights violations
- Authors: Roux, Mispa
- Date: 2012-11-06
- Subjects: Genocide , Human rights - International cooperation , International obligations , International law and human rights , Crimes against humanity
- Type: Thesis
- Identifier: uj:7360 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/8116
- Description: LL.D. , Millions of human lives have been affected by gross human rights violations since 1945. Genocide and crimes against humanity have been perpetrated repeatedly against civilians despite the vow after the Holocaust that such atrocities would “never again” occur. The Holocaust acts were not criminalised as “genocide” in the London Charter, but as “persecutions on political, racial or religious grounds” under the broader international crime of “crimes against humanity”. “Genocide” was criminalised on 9 December 1948 by the adoption of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide by the United Nations General Assembly. Two main obligations were imposed on signatory states by Article I of the Genocide Convention, namely to prevent the commission of the international crime of genocide, and the obligation to punish the perpetrators of such a crime. Both genocide and crimes against humanity form part of the “most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole”, which are also gross human rights violations. It is of interest to all states of the international community to prevent the commission of these gross human rights violations and to prosecute perpetrators. The prohibition of the international crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity is erga omnes in nature. The research objective of this doctoral thesis is to analyse the causes for the repeated failure of the international community to fulfil the erga omnes obligation to prevent and prosecute gross human rights violations. This endeavour is furthermore aimed at formulating recommendations that will enhance future compliance with the erga omnes obligation in accordance with the international legal developments that will form the subject matter of the thesis. The thesis consists of five parts. Part 1 is an introduction in which the research objective and aims of the thesis are explained and demarcated, as well as the issues focused upon. Core legal concepts, terms and notions explained in Part 1 include “gross human rightsviolations”, “erga omnes obligation”, “jus cogens norms”, “customary international law”, “states upon whom the erga omnes obligations to prevent and prosecute gross human rights violations are imposed”, “the obligation to prevent”, “the obligation to prosecute”, “state responsibility”, “individual criminal responsibility”, “state immunity”, and various other terms. Part 1 further explains the research methodology followed in the thesis and contains a brief overview of the parts and chapters.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Roux, Mispa
- Date: 2012-11-06
- Subjects: Genocide , Human rights - International cooperation , International obligations , International law and human rights , Crimes against humanity
- Type: Thesis
- Identifier: uj:7360 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/8116
- Description: LL.D. , Millions of human lives have been affected by gross human rights violations since 1945. Genocide and crimes against humanity have been perpetrated repeatedly against civilians despite the vow after the Holocaust that such atrocities would “never again” occur. The Holocaust acts were not criminalised as “genocide” in the London Charter, but as “persecutions on political, racial or religious grounds” under the broader international crime of “crimes against humanity”. “Genocide” was criminalised on 9 December 1948 by the adoption of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide by the United Nations General Assembly. Two main obligations were imposed on signatory states by Article I of the Genocide Convention, namely to prevent the commission of the international crime of genocide, and the obligation to punish the perpetrators of such a crime. Both genocide and crimes against humanity form part of the “most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole”, which are also gross human rights violations. It is of interest to all states of the international community to prevent the commission of these gross human rights violations and to prosecute perpetrators. The prohibition of the international crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity is erga omnes in nature. The research objective of this doctoral thesis is to analyse the causes for the repeated failure of the international community to fulfil the erga omnes obligation to prevent and prosecute gross human rights violations. This endeavour is furthermore aimed at formulating recommendations that will enhance future compliance with the erga omnes obligation in accordance with the international legal developments that will form the subject matter of the thesis. The thesis consists of five parts. Part 1 is an introduction in which the research objective and aims of the thesis are explained and demarcated, as well as the issues focused upon. Core legal concepts, terms and notions explained in Part 1 include “gross human rightsviolations”, “erga omnes obligation”, “jus cogens norms”, “customary international law”, “states upon whom the erga omnes obligations to prevent and prosecute gross human rights violations are imposed”, “the obligation to prevent”, “the obligation to prosecute”, “state responsibility”, “individual criminal responsibility”, “state immunity”, and various other terms. Part 1 further explains the research methodology followed in the thesis and contains a brief overview of the parts and chapters.
- Full Text:
When the subaltern speaks: citizen journalism and genocide 'victims’’ voices online
- Authors: Mpofu, Shepherd
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Citizen journalism , Genocide , Sulbaltern
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/91587 , uj:20119 , Citation: Mpofu, S., 2016. When the subaltern speaks: citizen journalism and genocide 'victims’ voices online.
- Description: Abstract: Using qualitative data drawn from newzimbabwe.com and a listserv comprising mostly Ndebele speaking people of Zimbabwe, this article investigates how the Web 2.0 era has given subaltern voices platforms to discuss issues rendered taboo in authoritarian contexts. The study is anchored on the concept of the subaltern public sphere and the metaphor of the ‘voice’ in cyberspace. The subaltern, as used here, refers to those people who perceive themselves as excluded from mainstream power and economic activities. The study thus uses critical discourse analysis (CDA) to examine how ‘Ndebeles’ discuss the 1980s genocide and how citizen journalism has generally revolutionised their participation in debates silenced by the ruling elite. What strongly comes out from the discussants’ interactions is that the genocide, which has not been addressed since it ‘ended’ with the signing of the Unity Accord in 1987 remains contentious as victims have not found closure. The study concludes that Web 2.0 has reconfigured subaltern communities’ engagements with the traumatic genocide.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Mpofu, Shepherd
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Citizen journalism , Genocide , Sulbaltern
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/91587 , uj:20119 , Citation: Mpofu, S., 2016. When the subaltern speaks: citizen journalism and genocide 'victims’ voices online.
- Description: Abstract: Using qualitative data drawn from newzimbabwe.com and a listserv comprising mostly Ndebele speaking people of Zimbabwe, this article investigates how the Web 2.0 era has given subaltern voices platforms to discuss issues rendered taboo in authoritarian contexts. The study is anchored on the concept of the subaltern public sphere and the metaphor of the ‘voice’ in cyberspace. The subaltern, as used here, refers to those people who perceive themselves as excluded from mainstream power and economic activities. The study thus uses critical discourse analysis (CDA) to examine how ‘Ndebeles’ discuss the 1980s genocide and how citizen journalism has generally revolutionised their participation in debates silenced by the ruling elite. What strongly comes out from the discussants’ interactions is that the genocide, which has not been addressed since it ‘ended’ with the signing of the Unity Accord in 1987 remains contentious as victims have not found closure. The study concludes that Web 2.0 has reconfigured subaltern communities’ engagements with the traumatic genocide.
- Full Text:
Zimbabwe’s state-controlled public media and the mediation of the 1980s genocide 30 years on
- Authors: Mpofu, Shepherd
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Genocide , Zimbabwe , violence
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/124040 , uj:20866 , Citation: Mpofu, S. 2016. Zimbabwe’s state-controlled public media and the mediation of the 1980s genocide 30 years on.
- Description: Abstract: Since the end of genocide in 1987 Zimbabwe has remained a zone of ‘conflicts’, and the enduring debates surrounding this genocide, especially in public-owned but state-controlled media, call for critical attention. Three years after independence, in 1980, Zimbabwe was plunged into a genocide named ‘Gukurahundi’ (meaning the rain that washes the chaff away after harvest) that lasted until 1987. This article argues that there has been a clash of ‘interests’ playing out in the mediation of this yet-to-be-officially addressed genocide. Through evidence from public-owned media, the media that carry the official voice of the ruling party, I argue that public media have seen genocide from conflicting and complex angles, making it difficult to reach a consensus suitable for national building based on genocide truths, meanings and effects to Zimbabweans. I specifically use the Unity Accordassociated holiday, the Unity Day, and its associated debates to pursue two arguments. First, public media have played an ambiguous role in appreciating the conflictual and multipronged nature of the genocide within ZANU-PF. Second, public media have largely been supportive of, and even complicit in, official silences on genocide debates and memory. The article uses public sphere and narrative analysis as frameworks for understanding the operations of public media journalism in the mediation of genocide nearly 30 years after its occurrence.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Mpofu, Shepherd
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Genocide , Zimbabwe , violence
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/124040 , uj:20866 , Citation: Mpofu, S. 2016. Zimbabwe’s state-controlled public media and the mediation of the 1980s genocide 30 years on.
- Description: Abstract: Since the end of genocide in 1987 Zimbabwe has remained a zone of ‘conflicts’, and the enduring debates surrounding this genocide, especially in public-owned but state-controlled media, call for critical attention. Three years after independence, in 1980, Zimbabwe was plunged into a genocide named ‘Gukurahundi’ (meaning the rain that washes the chaff away after harvest) that lasted until 1987. This article argues that there has been a clash of ‘interests’ playing out in the mediation of this yet-to-be-officially addressed genocide. Through evidence from public-owned media, the media that carry the official voice of the ruling party, I argue that public media have seen genocide from conflicting and complex angles, making it difficult to reach a consensus suitable for national building based on genocide truths, meanings and effects to Zimbabweans. I specifically use the Unity Accordassociated holiday, the Unity Day, and its associated debates to pursue two arguments. First, public media have played an ambiguous role in appreciating the conflictual and multipronged nature of the genocide within ZANU-PF. Second, public media have largely been supportive of, and even complicit in, official silences on genocide debates and memory. The article uses public sphere and narrative analysis as frameworks for understanding the operations of public media journalism in the mediation of genocide nearly 30 years after its occurrence.
- Full Text:
- «
- ‹
- 1
- ›
- »