Global Campus Awarded Theses

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https://reponew.gchumanrights.org/handle/20.500.11825/738
Every year the regional master’s programmes of Global Campus of Human Rights select the best master theses of the previous academic year. The selected seven GC master theses cover a range of different international human rights topics and challenges.

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    Responsibility to protect: the never-ending rhetoric or actual baseline for the EUs possible action
    (Global Campus, 2013-06) Homolkova, Lenka ; Bekou, Olympia
    The thesis focuses on the concept of the Responsibility to Protect (RtoP) within the framework of the European Union’s external action. The RtoP presents the newly emerging international norm aiming at prevent war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and ethnic cleansing, therefore its operationalisation is highly desirable. The regional organisations are well placed to play an important role in this respect. The thesis analyses to what extent can the EU invoke the RtoP in its foreign policies in the future showing that the RtoP elements and obligations already exist in the EU law as well as the EU possesses the impressive toolbox of the mechanisms ready to be deployed in the RtoP situations. Furthermore, the EU has been vocally very supportive of the RtoP since its creation. To what extent is/will be the EU able to transcend the mere rhetoric and actually regularly use the RtoP in its external policies? The current case of Libya shows that EU is able to follow the RtoP guidelines reflecting already the existing practice, however, one main obstacles hamper the full RtoP realization by the EU – lack of its codification in the EU law and instruments.
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    The transformation of the Inter-American system for the protection of human rights: the structural impact of the Inter-American Courts case law on amnesties
    (Global Campus, 2013-06) Toda Castan, Daniel ; Nowak, Karol
    Since 2001, although only in very few cases concerning amnesty laws, the Inter- American Court of Human Rights has started to declare the lack of legal effects of domestic legislation owing to its incompatibility with the American Convention on Human Rights. In addition, the Court imposes on national authorities the duty to exercise what it calls the “conventionality control”, and to disapply laws contrary to the Convention. Through an analysis of this and previous case law, as well as of relevant literature, the author argues that the Court is transforming the legal nature of the Inter- American system for the protection of human rights in order to enhance its influence on the states’ domestic order. However, the examination of the interpretative process through which the Court achieves this enhanced influence reveals that it is creating law and exceeding its jurisdiction. The theories of the state’s international responsibility and the inherent powers of international courts, as they stand, do not seem to provide a basis for this development. In view of this, but also of the reasons that may have led the Court to adopt this case law, the author raises the question of the legitimacy of this transformation of the Inter-American system and calls for the necessary reflection on the question.
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    Conflict-related sexual violence and international peace operations
    (Global Campus, 2013-06) Steinkogler, Cordula ; Murphy, Raymond
    Within the United Nations peace and security work, as well as in academic research, advocacy and policy initiatives concerned with peace and security, gender is mainly conceptualized as synonymous with women while sexual violence is largely conflated with gender-based violence and thus regarded as an issue that exclusively affects women as victims and men as perpetrators. This however led to the exclusion of male victims of conflict-related sexual violence from academic research, advocacy and policy initiatives, as well as UN initiatives on gender, peace and security. This thesis seeks to explore ways to conceptualize and address conflict-related sexual violence in a comprehensive and inclusive way within the UN peace and security agenda and particularly in peace operations. By the means of a critical analysis of academic literature and policy developments the thesis discusses the dominant conceptual and operational frameworks that have been developed to address conflict-related sexual violence and suggests a re-conceptualisation of gender and gender-based violence in order to better accommodate the empirical reality of male victims and female perpetrators of conflict-related sexual violence. The dominant explanatory and policy frameworks developed by scholars and adopted by the UN to prevent sexual violence in armed conflict are largely based on a narrow approach and fail to adequately address the complex dynamics of conflict-related sexual violence. Conflict-related sexual violence is conceptualized on the basis of a strict male perpetrator/female victim dualism that regards the perpetrator/victim relationship as a male/female relationship and thereby links it to sex rather than gender. This precludes an effective gender analysis of sexual violence in armed conflict and does not permit to include male victims and female perpetrators into a discussion on the root causes of conflict-related sexual violence. The dominant conceptualization of conflict-related sexual violence furthermore relies on an essentialist representation of men and women, portraying women as vulnerable victims of sexual violence and men as aggressive perpetrators. Through the perpetuation of these associations, existing gender stereotypes, identities and power relations that make sexual violence an effective tool of humiliation and intimidation in times of armed conflict are reinforced rather than challenged. Thus this thesis argues that a more inclusive and comprehensive gender approach to conflict-related sexual violence should be adopted that addresses the various root causes and underlying dynamics by challenging traditional gender stereotypes and identities promoted by dominant gender discourses. Strategies to enhance the ability of UN peace operations to protect civilians from conflict-related sexual violence will hardly be effective as long as gender stereotypes and ideologies that lie at the roots of sexual violence in armed conflict are reproduced rather than deconstructed in UN discourse on peace and security as well as in the discourses of member states and particularly their military institutions.
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    An analysis of the legal, policy and institutional frameworks on the right to water in Uganda
    (Global Campus, 2014-09) Kabagambe, Agaba Daphine ; Durojaye, Ebenezer
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    Refugees and geopolitics: exploring US and Indian influences in the treatment of Bhutanese and Tibetan refugees in Nepal
    (Global Campus, 2014-09) Sigdel, Kamal Raj ; Banki, Susan ; Hayes, Michael George
    This research makes an inquiry into the influence of the two powerful states, the US and India, in the treatment of the Bhutanese and the Tibetan refugees in Nepal. In particular, it provides a comparative study of the situations the refugees underwent in the course of their history, from their struggle for asylum following their first flights to the recent endeavours in finding durable solutions, taking into consideration the actual geopolitical context they lived in. The study employs the perspective offered by Goodwin-Gill, especially his concept on the role of geopolitics in refugee protection. Goodwin-Gill argues that unlike what the states often claim, the refugees have actually been subject to differential treatment guided mainly by the states’ own geo-strategic interests rather than the interests of the refugees. The study shows that the states have influenced the refugees’ treatment directly as well as through the UNHCR. Given the geopolitical reality, the host country Nepal is found to have become a passive recipient of the external influences when it comes to the treatment of the refugees and finding durable solutions. As a result, in spite of the fact that they are living in the same country, the two exiled communities were treated very differently, depending on the kind of political and geo-strategic interests they served for the influential states. While the continued presence of the Tibetan refugees near the Chinese border served the US and Indian interests to keep them as a bargaining chip to counterbalance Chinese actions in the region, the continued presence of the Bhutanese in the camps near Bhutan was perceived as a threat to regional security. This led to the Bhutanese refugees being prioritized for third-country resettlement and the Tibetans for continuing their political struggle. The study thus reveals that such differential treatment has had a concrete and far-reaching impact on the situations of the refugees.
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    Facing the past in Prijedor: a case study of local transitional justice initiatives
    (Global Campus, 2014-09) Dowling, Julia ; Pajic, Zoran
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    Arctic voices from the frontlines of a warming world : the importance of indigenous knowledge in the climate change discourse
    (Global Campus, 2015-08) Waters, Eleanor ; Kuppe, René
    Arctic ice is melting at unprecedented rates, drastically altering arctic ecosystems, habitats, and lifestyles. Due to their subsistent ways of life, indigenous peoples have comparatively contributed very little to climate change, yet they are among the first to bear the brunt of its negative effects. Arctic indigenous peoples see human-induced climate change as a human rights issue, closely intertwined with self-determination and land rights. The various indigenous voices of the Arctic tell us they want to defend their cultures and will not be mere victims. They are increasingly vocal and involved in local, regional, and global solutions. The research in this paper reveals the impacts of climate change on traditional arctic ways of life. The contributions of indigenous ecological knowledge to adaptation initiatives are assessed and indigenous worldviews with inherent ties to the environment are discussed. A case study exposes the challenges of incorporating indigenous knowledge in Western science and politics. The Arctic Voices have a groundswell of support among scientists, researchers, environmentalists, and humanitarians yet there is very little government policy or action to help them combat the potential risks of climate change. As Arctic peoples continue to amplify their voices, policy and decision makers must listen in order to reach ethical and sustainable solutions to this crisis. Keywords: climate change; arctic; indigenous knowledge; indigenous rights; policy
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    Restrictions of freedom of speech in the post-Soviet region: Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova
    (Global Campus, 2015-08) Supac, Marina ; Bournazian, Vahan
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    Challenges faced by civilian personel providing international humanitarian assistance deployed in post-Cold War United Nations peacekeeping missions
    (Global Campus, 2015-08) Hernández, Lía ; Arcidiácono, Pilar
    Once the Cold War came to a close, the essence of peacekeeping operations changed in terms of their function and composition. There was a dramatic increase in the number of operations undertaken worldwide and the function associated with traditional peacekeeping operations evolved into multiple tasks undertaken by an increasing number of civilian personnel. Since then, international civilian peacekeepers deployed in the field of UN peacekeeping operations began to face numerous challenges and threats that had an impact on their personal security and safety as well the execution of their tasks which were essential to deliver effective humanitarian assistance according to the specific mandates of the UN peacekeeping missions.
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    Negotiated management: advancing the right to demonstrate in Kenya and Nigeria
    (Global Campus, 2015-08) Kamunyu, Mariam ; Atsenuwa, Ayodele V.
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    Elite NGO leaders as vernacularizers of the human rights concept of violence against women: critical analysis from the perspective of women from socially excluded groups
    (Global Campus, 2015-08) Ghale, Subha ; Valiente-Riedl, Elisabeth
    The study critically examines how elite women leaders of NGOs have vernacularized the concept of Violence Against Women (VAW), one of the most prominent international human rights concepts in Nepal. The term “elite women” in this dissertation refers specifically to women who have disproportionate access to and control over power and resources in Nepal’s social and political realms in relation to other women. The central question is whether and how the concerns of women from socially excluded groups are being addressed by this elite-led process of vernacularization. Human rights ideas have significance only when they are translated to address the concerns of the most marginalised people. In Nepal, over two thirds of the population—the Indigenous Peoples, Madhesis, Dalits, and Muslims— constitute socially excluded groups. The analysis seeks to foreground the perspective of women from these socially excluded groups. The study uses the theoretical concepts of “vernacularization” (Merry) and “intersectionality” (Crenshaw) alongside the general concept of international human rights law for analysing the role of elite-led women NGOs from the perspective of marginalised women. To present a case study of elite-led vernacularization of VAW in Nepal, the research focuses on SAATHI, a well–established, well-funded and influential NGO working for women. By situating the leaders of SAATHI in Nepal’s social and political context, the study tries to reveal how their gender, caste, ethnicity and class has a bearing on how they translate the concept of VAW. The discourse produced by SAATHI’s reports are analysed in light of the major concerns of socially excluded women, particularly the need for recognition of diversity among Nepali women and the multiple forms of oppression they face. The findings of the study suggest that SAATHI’s discourse on VAW does not entirely resonate with the concerns and demands of women from socially excluded groups. The underlying assumption in the discourse is that the experiences of high caste Hindu women, the group in which the leaders of SAATHI belong, represent the experiences of all “Nepali women”. SAATHI adopts a “sameness of treatment approach” and makes recommendations for blanket policies which affect all groups of women in Nepal. Through this discourse, SAATHI perpetuates the trend of glossing over the differences of caste, ethnicity, class and religion among women. It creates an impression that such factors have little or no bearing on the degree and form of violence experienced by women. In this manner, the translation of VAW by the elite NGO leaders perpetuates a discourse that fails to include the experiences of socially excluded women, except when such experiences neatly overlap with those of high caste women.
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    The global financial crisis and its impact on human rights: case study of Ghana and Zambia
    (Global Campus, 2016) Mukulwamutiyo, Grace ; Quashigah, Edward Kofi
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    Gender invisibility and the best interests of the child in the administration of justice: analysis of the request for house arrest by Ana María Fernández
    (Global Campus, 2016-11) Comas, Rocio ; Terragni, Martiniano
    This study looks at the application of house arrest in case law after the reform of Law No. 24,660 on the enforcement of deprivation of freedom in Argentina. This change increases the number of cases in which confinement is moderated, such as when pregnant women and/or mothers of children under the age of five are involved. This study analyses Ana María Fernández’s request for house arrest by interpreting the arguments made by judicial officers using three main tools: gender perspective, the best interests of the child and the hermeneutics of human rights.
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    "No more at the edge": refugees and local communities at the centre of development : a new approach to local integration and its impacts on food security
    (Global Campus, 2016-11) Folcio, Alessandra ; Benedek, Wolfgang
    This thesis explores the topic of local integration in protracted refugee situations with a special focus on the aspect of food security. It presents an overview of the multidimensional and complex nature of protracted refugee situations’ causes and consequences. In particular, it focuses on the impact of protracted displacement on the different dimensions of food security in refugee hosting areas. In order to maximize the potential benefits of protracted refugee situations, the thesis promotes to overcome existing humanitarian-dominated approaches and to adopt a developmental approach to local integration. Different attempts have been made within the international community to link humanitarian and development assistance, but the reality shows that little has changed and that the dominant paradigm in the response to PRS still tends to focus on short-term needs, emergency assistance and protection. Therefore, the relevance of the thesis lies in its attempt to outline a new way for dealing with local integration as a durable solution to PRS. In advocating the need to adopt a developmental approach to local integration, the thesis underlines how the abovementioned approach can be beneficial for host countries since it enhances refugees’ contribution to the economic and social development of RHAs, and in particular to the improvement of their food security.
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    Integration vs. Discrimination : protection of human rights in EU migration policy and the role of the ENP in shaping migration policy framework in the RA
    (Global Campus, 2016-11) Muradyan, Nika ; Bournazian, Vahan
    This paper examines three separate - but very interconnected topics on the protection of migrants’ rights in the EU and Armenia. Migration policy development in the EU is discussed together with the need for ratification of ICRMW by EU Member States, which may be a strong tool for better protection of human rights. Also analyzed in the paper is how integration policy is significant for migration policy development, more precisely, how economic and cultural exclusion becomes a threat for integration. The analysis of endogenous relationship of integration and discrimination is based on various sociological and statistical data; surveys carried out in several EU countries and final observations, reports from the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The final chapter is devoted to immigration flows in Armenia, the impact of the Syrian crisis on the country’s migration management and the role of the European Neighbourhood Policy on migration policy development in the Republic of Armenia.
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    Nahdlatul Ulama and democratisation in Indonesia
    (Global Campus, 2016-11) Mathema, Kalyan Bhakta ; Santoso, Purwo
    Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), was formed in 1926 to promote the interest of traditional Muslims of Indonesia, is currently the largest Muslim organization in the world with about 40 million members. This dissertation is the study to find out whether the activities of this organization are helping to mainstream the marginalized and excluded communities in Indonesia or not. The activities of NU that help to mainstream marginalized Indonesians are understood in this research as the process of democratisation. In this study the ethnic minorities, women, non-Sunni Muslim minorities, and non-Muslim religious minorities are identified as excluded and marginalized communities of Indonesia.