International Law in Namibia

Prince Zongwe

Description

This book provides readers with the knowledge necessary to fully understand how international law carved the history and life of Namibia. It observes that Namibia has benefited from and contributed to international law in a way that shaped that country’s political and socio-economic development and to an extent that few other countries experienced.
For many a year since Namibia achieved Independence on 21 March 1990 and established the Faculty of Law at the University of Namibia in 1992, students and lecturers have relied on materials from South Africa, despite the fact that Namibian law has since then grown apart from its South African heritage. It is high time for lecturers and students in Namibia to teach and learn with a textbook that analyses international law from the distinct standpoint of Namibia and that views the nation’s legal interactions with other states through its own prism! And this textbook aims to do just that.
Through its 19 chapters, this book informs readers about international law, its sources, international treaties, Namibian statehood, dispute resolution, the use of force, human rights, Namibia’s economic relations with the outside world (including the Southern African Customs Union), and the law of the sea.
Namibian courts have in their own way followed the rules of international law scrupulously, but – as this book shows – international law nonetheless remains the source of Namibian law that lawyers apply the least. Accordingly, this book underlines the significance, the practical utility, and the relevance of international law in the unique Namibian context.

Informations

• Publié par: Langaa RPCIG
• Date de parution: 22 avril 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 4
• EAN13: 9789956550814
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 5 Mo

Extrait

Namibia has benefited from and contributed to international law in a way

book underlines the significance, the practical utility, and the relevance of

inInNtaermniabtiiaonalLaw

Dunia P. Zongwe

International Law in Namibia

Dunia P. Zongwe

International Law in Namibia Dunia P. Zongwe

L a ng a a R esea rch & P u blishing CIG Mankon, Bamenda

Publisher: LangaaRPCIG Langaa Research & Publishing Common Initiative Group P.O. Box 902 Mankon Bamenda North West Region Cameroon [e-mail] www.langaa-rpcig.net Distributed in and outside N. America by African Books Collective [e-mail] www.africanbookscollective.com

ISBN-10: 9956-550-44-2

ISBN-13: 978-9956-550-44-9

©Dunia P. Zongwe 2019 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical or electronic, including photocopying and recording, or be stored in any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher

About the Author Dunia Prince Zongwe is an author, an academic and a consultant. He currently works as an Associate Professor in the Department of Legal Studies at Walter Sisulu University. Previously, he lectured at the University of Namibia (UNAM) in the Faculty of Law, where he taught Public International Law from 2016 to 2018. Zongwe specializes in finance, development, natural resources, and human rights, with an emphasis on Africa in general and Southern Africa in particular. He has written extensively in those fields. His research has been cited more than 75 times by various scholars and international organizations, and it has been published in a number of law reviews, including the American University International Law Review (forthcoming), SADC Law Journal, Israel Law Review, Southern African Public Law, and Peking University Journal of Legal Studies. A World Bank consultant since 2013, Zongwe has carried out consulting work in projects by the European Union (Domac); UNESCO; Oxford University Press (International Law in Domestic Courts) and New York University (GlobaLex). Since 2008, Zongwe has presented lectures at about 35 conferences at many universities, including Wits University, Yale University, the University of Ghana, and the University of Amsterdam. Zongwe received several merit scholarships and awards, such as the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC, South Africa) runner- up Certificate of Excellence for Best Presenter award in 2016, the Law Society of Namibia Prize for Best LL.B. Student in 2007, and the UNAM Vice-Chancellor’s Medal (twice). He was also offered a foreign clerkship at the South African Constitutional Court in 2007. Zongwe studied at the University of Namibia, Université de Montréal and Cornell University, where he earned both his master’s and doctoral degrees in law.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements ........................................................... xv Preface ............................................................................... xvii Chapter 1: Introduction ..................................................... 1 1. Namibia and international law in the literature ................................................................... 2 2. Significance, utility and Eurocentricity of international law ....................................................... 4 3. Is Namibia a child of international law? ....................... 5 3.1 Controversy around this idea ......................................................5 3.2 Originality of this idea ..................................................................7 4. Why it matters to learn international law in Namibia.............................................................. 8 4.1 Significance of international law .................................................8 4.2 Practical utility of international law............................................10 4.3 Relevance of international law for the legal profession .................................................................10 5. The role of politics in international relations ................ 11 6. How this book is organised........................................... 13 Chapter 2: What International Law Is .............................. 15 1. Introduction ................................................................... 15 2. Definition....................................................................... 17 2.1 Scope of international law ...........................................................17 2.2 Problems of unity..........................................................................19 2.3 The boundaries of public international law ..............................20 2.4 Problems of relationship with municipal law ...........................21 3. International law as a legal system ............................... 22 3.1 International parliament...............................................................22 3.2 International courts ......................................................................23 3.3 World government........................................................................24 4. Sanctions as command of the superior ......................... 25 5. Why do states apply international law? ......................... 26 5.1 Austin’s sanctions theory does not explain state compliance .............................................................26 5.2 The effectiveness of international law .......................................28 6. Is international law Eurocentric? .................................. 29 7. International law as a tool for interpretation of national law ............................................................... 30 7.1 Human dignity ...............................................................................30 v

7.2 Freedom of speech and expression............................................31 7.3 Free legal aid ..................................................................................32 7.4 Hate speech....................................................................................33 Chapter 3: The European roots of modern international law ........................................................... 35 1. The European influence ................................................ 36 2. The jurists who developed international law ................ 38 2.1 The early origins ............................................................................38 2.2 The Spanish and Italian writers ..................................................39 2.3 Hugo Grotius and other Dutch jurists ......................................40 2.4 Later scholars.................................................................................41 3. The historical milestones .............................................. 41 3.1 The Peace of Westphalia..............................................................42 3.2 The Congress of Vienna ..............................................................44 3.3 The Berlin Conference .................................................................44 3.4 The League of Nations and the mandate system.....................44 3.5 The United Nations ......................................................................45 4. Major implications for Namibian law ........................... 47 Chapter 4: Sources of international law ............................ 49 1. The standard analytical framework ............................... 49 2. Treaties .......................................................................... 53 3. Custom........................................................................... 54 3.1 Settled practice (usus) ...................................................................55 3.2 Opinio iuris ....................................................................................57 3.3 Resolutions and recommendations of international organizations ......................................................58 3.4 Soft law ...........................................................................................59 3.5 Concluding remarks......................................................................59 4. Principles of law from civilized nations ........................ 60 4.1 Historical context..........................................................................60 4.2 Content ...........................................................................................61 4.3 References to the civilised world in Namibian court practice ................................................................................62 5. Subsidiary sources ......................................................... 63 5.1 Judicial precedents ........................................................................63 5.2 Writings by highly publicized jurists ..........................................64 6. Peremptory norms ......................................................... 65 7. Equity and considerations of humanity ........................ 67 Chapter 5: International Law in the Namibian Legal System ................................................. 69 1. International law in the Namibian

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constitutional dispensation ............................................... 70 1.1 The drafting of the Constitution ................................................70 1.2 The philosophy of the Constitution...........................................72 1.3 Friendly clauses .............................................................................73 2. The theoretical questions .............................................. 75 2.1 Monism...........................................................................................76 2.2 Dualism...........................................................................................77 2.3 Coordination..................................................................................78 3. Article 144 of the Namibian Constitution ..................... 79 3.1 General observations....................................................................80 3.2 Critical analysis of Article 144.....................................................82 3.2.1 “General rules of public international law”.....................................82 3.2.2 “International agreements”..............................................................83 3.2.3 “Binding upon Namibia”...............................................................83 4. Municipal law before international forums................... 84 5. International and national application of international law ....................................................... 85 Chapter 6: How Namibian courts apply international law ........................................................... 87 1. The main issue............................................................... 87 2. Human rights and Article 144 ....................................... 89 2.1 Ex parte Attorney General: In re Corporal Punishment by Organs of State (SC 1991)......................................90 2.2 Cultura 2000 v. Government of the Republic of Namibia (HC 1992) .......................................................91 2.3 Kauesa v. Minister of Home Affairs (HC 1994)......................92 2.4 S v. Mushwena (SC 2004) ............................................................92 3. When the courts hit the wrong notes ............................ 92 3.1 S v Curras (HC 1991) ...................................................................93 3.2 S v Carracelas (HC and SC 1992) ...............................................94 3.3 S v Martinez (HC 1993) ...............................................................95 3.4 Namunjepo v Commanding Officer, Windhoek Prison (SC 1999) ..............................................................96 3.5 South African Poultry Association v Minister of Trade and Industry (SC 2018) ...........................................................97 4. Likanyi and shortcomings in applying international law in Namibia ........................................ 100 4.1 Lack of clear framework and systematic analysis.....................101 3.2 Lack of hierarchical ordering ......................................................101 Chapter 7: Treaties and their Interpretation ..................... 103 1. The law of treaties and the 1969 Vienna Convention ....................................................... 104

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2. The making of treaties .................................................. 107 2.1 General principles .........................................................................107 2.2 Treaty-making in Namibia and its significance ........................108 2.3 Relevant provisions in the Namibian Constitution .................110 3. Types of treaties ............................................................ 114 4. Pacta sunt servanda ....................................................... 114 5. Third parties .................................................................. 116 6. Invalidity of treaties ....................................................... 117 7. Interpretation of treaties................................................ 119 8. Reservations .................................................................. 121 9. Termination and amendments...................................... 124 10. Succession to treaties ................................................... 126 Chapter 8: States and Namibia’s Long March to Statehood............................................... 129 1. Basic distinctions........................................................... 130 1.1 Actors versus subjects ..................................................................130 1.2 State versus government ..............................................................131 2. The emergence of the modern state.............................. 132 3. Namibia’s long march towards independence ............. 133 3.1 From the German protectorate to the South African apartheid administration........................135 3.2 From apartheid to Independence and statehood.....................136 4. The criteria for statehood .............................................. 140 4.1 Permanent population ..................................................................142 4.2 Defined territory ...........................................................................142 4.3 Effective government...................................................................143 4.4 Relations with states .....................................................................144 4.5 Willingness to observe international law and human rights ..................................................................146 5. Self-determination and secession.................................. 146 5.1 Meanings and contexts ...................................................... 146 5.2 Caprivi attempted secession ............................................. 149 5.3 Self-determination claims by the Rehoboth Basters ..... 150 5.4 Claims relating to ancestral lands by the Bethanie community ................................................................ 151 Chapter 9: Recognition of States and Governments................................................. 153 1. Recognition in general .................................................. 154 2. The legal effects of recognition ..................................... 157 3. Recognition of states ..................................................... 158 3.1 Declarative versus constitutive school of thought ..................159

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3.2 How to recognize states and governments ...............................160 3.3 Unilateral versus collective recognition .....................................161 3.4 Collective (non-)recognition .......................................................161 4. Recognition of governments ......................................... 164 4.1 De jure recognition .......................................................................164 4.2 De facto recognition.....................................................................167 4.3 The practical validity of the de jure and de facto distinction ......................................................................169 4.4 The Estrada Doctrine...................................................................170 Chapter 10: Territory ......................................................... 173 1. ‘Territory’ in theory and in Namibia ............................. 175 2. Territorial claims and disputes ..................................... 177 3. Intertemporal law .......................................................... 180 4. Sanctity of colonial borders ........................................... 182 5. The different ways of acquiring territory ...................... 183 5.1 Old forms of acquisition of territory .........................................184 5.2 Territory acquired as a result of self-determination claims..............................................................186 5.3 Annexation.....................................................................................187 5.4 Accretion ........................................................................................188 5.5 Cession............................................................................................188 5.6 Prescription ....................................................................................189 5.7 Estoppel..........................................................................................190 6. The Sedudu/Kasikili islands dispute............................ 191 Chapter 11: State Responsibility........................................ 193 1. Basic distinctions........................................................... 195 1.1 Direct versus indirect state responsibility .................................195 1.2 Primary versus secondary rules of state responsibility.....................................................................196 2. Responsibility of states.................................................. 197 2.1 The multi-track doctrine of state responsibility .......................197 2.2 The nature of state responsibility ...............................................199 2.3 The Draft Articles on State Responsibility ...............................200 2.3.1 Internationally wrongful acts...........................................................201 2.3.2 Serious breaches of higher norms......................................................201 2.3.3 Attribution of conduct to a state................202...................................... 2.3.4 Invocation of the responsibility of a state..........................................204 2.3.5 Circumstances excluding wrongfulness..............................................205 2.3.6 Legal consequences of internationallywrongful acts..................07.2........ 3. Diplomatic protection ................................................... 208 3.1 Nationality ......................................................................................210 3.2 Exhaustion of local remedies ......................................................214

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