INTERNATIONAL LAW PAST EXAM QUESTIONS WITH MODEL ANSWERS

Question 1: On a recent 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) (i) discuss fully, with reference to both the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties and the South African Constitution, whether 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.