LCP4801 - PAST
EXAM QUESTIONS
WITH MODEL
ANSWERS LATEST
EXAM PREP
INTERNATIONAL LAW PAST EXAM QUESTIONS WITH MODEL ANSWERS
Question 1:
On a recent
... [Show More] trip to New York the South African Minister of Foreign
Affairs enters into an agreement with representatives from the United
States, Canada, Namibia and the United Kingdom on the treatment of
illegal immigrants. At the sane time the South Africa Minister of Health
is visits Zimbabwe, where she enters into an agreement (without
producing full powers) with Zimbabwe’s Minister of Environment Affairs
on the protection of the environment.
(a) discuss fully, with reference to both the Vienna Convention on
the Law of Treaties and the South African Constitution,
whether
(i) The treaty on the treatment of illegal immigrants will bind
South Africa at an international level.
This was a straight forward question which required you to apply article 7(2)
of the Vienna Convention. Refer to pages 23-25 in the guide. Then decide
whether the treaty is binding internationally in terms of the South African
Constitution. (Consult section 231(1), 231(2) and 231(3).
(8)
(ii) The treaty on environmental protection will bind South Africa
at an international level.
All you had to do here was apply the provisions of article 7(1) of the Vienna
Convention. Consult pages 24 of the guide. (7)
(b) Assume that the treaty on the treatment of illegal immigrants
is binding on South Africa at an international level. Mr
Musina, an illegal immigrant from the Democratic Republic of
the Congo, approaches a South African court claiming
damages in the grounds that the treatment he received at the
hands of the South African Police Services was in violation of
his rights under the treaty. Write a legal opinion for the
Minister of Safety and Security, in which you set out the
status of the treaty in terms of the SA Constitution 108 of
1996. (20)
The fact that the treaty is binding internationally does not make it effective
in, or applicable to, municipal law. Nor does it mean that it can be applied
by SA courts. Here you firstly had to determine whether this treaty has
legal effect in municipal law. To do this you require a discussion of section
231(4) of the Constitution. You should have found that treaty does not have
municipal effect. This does not mean that treaty is no use at all t Mr
Musina. Consult page 92 of the guide for the various ways that the
unincorporated treaty could be useful to Mr Musina. Note that not all of
these ways are useful. For example, there is no relevant legislation and
therefore section 233 is probably not going to be too helpful. [Show Less]