Doctoral Degrees (Public Law)

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Browsing Doctoral Degrees (Public Law) by Author "Amin, Anneth"

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    A teleological approach to the interpretation of socio-economic rights in the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2017-12) Amin, Anneth; Liebenberg, Sandra; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Law. Department of Public Law
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT : Realising socio-economic rights is significant for improving the socio-economic conditions of Africa’s people and ensuring that people have access to socio-economic services and a dignified life. The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights both explicitly and implicitly protects a wide range of socio-economic rights. Interpreting these socio-economic rights in a manner that guarantees their efficacy and improves peoples’ socio-economic conditions is essential on the African Continent. Supervisory organs have, however, been inconsistent in their interpretive approaches to the socio-economic rights in the African Charter. This dissertation investigates the extent to which the teleological approach to interpretation can assist supervisory organs in interpreting socio-economic rights in a manner that ensures their efficacy. The study identifies the need to advance a coherent methodology for the application of the teleological approach. Thereafter, it develops a methodology that engages a wide range of interpretative tools both within and beyond the African Charter. This methodology can assist supervisory organs to coherently elaborate on the African Charter’s object and purpose to generate the meaning, scope, and content of socio-economic rights and their related obligations. Advancing socio-economic rights in Africa necessitates a model of review grounded in the teleological approach to interpretation. Supervisory organs, in particular the African Commission, have applied various models of review to assess States’ compliance with their socio-economic rights obligations. This dissertation develops the reasonableness model of review, which incorporates minimum core standards and proportionality. It is argued that this model can assist supervisory organs in assessing States’ compliance with their progressive and immediate socio-economic rights obligations. Furthermore, it can provide a basis for evaluating the justification for limitations imposed by States’ on socio-economic rights. Advancing the teleological approach to interpreting the socio-economic rights in the African Charter can therefore assist supervisory organs to make a meaningful contribution to protecting socio-economic rights on the African Continent.