Browsing by Author "Petersen, Aamina"

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    Gender construction in sexual offences cases: A case for fully reviving the Sexual Offences Courts
    (Juta, 2020) Chinnian, Karin; Petersen, Aamina
    Gender inequality, male hegemony and the power dynamics at the core of patriarchal society enable the high rate of sexual offences and the low conviction rate of sexual offenders when incidents are reported. The criminal justice system does not provide a safe space for the sexual offence victim/survivor to relate her experience of sexual violence. Sexual Offences Courts provided a victim-centred approach to the criminal justice system. The closure of these courts has been detrimental to the campaign for social justice and the constitutional rights of complainants. Feminist scholarship is employed as a lens through which to analyse and expose the deficiencies in the current framework used to secure convictions in sexual offences cases. Wishik’s development and expansion of the ‘woman question’ is used to refine this method, subquestions are formulated to provide a systematic process for interrogating the status quo, and for finding remedies to redress the problems identified. The closure of Sexual Offences Courts may be seen as a form of discrimination against women. It is therefore recommended that these specialised courts are reintroduced as a matter of urgency as the state needs to meet its constitutional obligations.
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    Statelessness as a failure of international law: a critical analysis of the effects of statelessness on gender rights
    (University of the Western Cape, 2019) Petersen, Aamina; Chinnian, Karin
    Statelessness is a global human rights problem affecting a vast number of individuals, families and communities worldwide. The concept of statelessness comes to existence as a conflict that was created by international law. Article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides that everyone has the right to a nationality. Article 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights provides the right to state sovereignty. The latter article thus allows states to enact laws conferring nationality as it deems fit, even if such laws offend the former article. In addition, this phenomenon affects men and women differently, something which international law fails to take proper cognisance of. This causes the failure of properly being able to regulate the issue of statelessness. Furthermore, the failure at law stumps the growth of women by be destabilising and disempowering it. While Article 9 of Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women provides that there should be no discrimination between men and women with regard to the acquisition or conferral of nationality. However, there are 27 countries who maintain gender-based discriminatory nationality laws. One of the main reasons for generational statelessness is gender –based discriminatory nationality laws. The problem of statelessness will continue to persist if nothing is done to reform the laws of those countries who maintain the gender-based discriminatory nationality laws. This thesis will examine the legal gaps at international law in addressing the issue of statelessness. It will also look at States that continue to implement nationality laws and practices which are gender discriminatory. This thesis will argue that Article 9 is used as a basis of accountability for violator States who fail to protect women who have been subjected to human rights violations as a result of statelessness. It will also provide recommendations that will aid in acquiring effective change that could ultimately lead to the eradication of statelessness.