EU Policies in the Democratic Republic of Congo: Try and Fail?

This paper argues that even though EU policies in the DRC integrated different components of human security – namely human rights protection, the restoration of law and order, and effective multilateralism – in practice these policies have had mixed success in realizing the objective of human security. This can be explained by three main reasons: (i) EU policies are based on a number of premises about how peace and human security can best be achieved, but these premises are overly simplistic, and in most cases tend to overlook or are disconnected from complexities on the ground; (ii) since the end of the transition in 2006, the EU saw its influence as dominant diplomatic and conflict management actor gradually weakening, and has focused on its role as a development actor, with a specific focus on the implementation of technical projects rather than on the development of a strategic policy on the DRC; and (iii) there is a general lack of political will from Congolese state authorities to engage with donor strategies and to support initiatives that promote a genuine national reform

A Court in Crisis? The ICC in Africa, and Beyond. Egmont Paper 93, May 2017

The atmosphere of crisis surrounding the International Criminal Court (ICC) seems to be slowly dissipating after Gambia and South Africa revoked their notices of withdrawal from the Court in February and March 2017 respectively. Concerns that the threats of withdrawal made by Burundi, Gambia and South Africa in late 2016 would produce a domino effect, and even become the harbinger of the ICC’s demise in the long term, have proven premature. This development should, however, not make us complacent about the challenges the ICC continues to face, even in the absence of further state withdrawals

Sex differences in oncogenic mutational processes.

Sex differences have been observed in multiple facets of cancer epidemiology, treatment and biology, and in most cancers outside the sex organs. Efforts to link these clinical differences to specific molecular features have focused on somatic mutations within the coding regions of the genome. Here we report a pan-cancer analysis of sex differences in whole genomes of 1983 tumours of 28 subtypes as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium. We both confirm the results of exome studies, and also uncover previously undescribed sex differences. These include sex-biases in coding and non-coding cancer drivers, mutation prevalence and strikingly, in mutational signatures related to underlying mutational processes. These results underline the pervasiveness of molecular sex differences and strengthen the call for increased consideration of sex in molecular cancer research

Retrospective evaluation of whole exome and genome mutation calls in 746 cancer samples

Funder: NCI U24CA211006Abstract: The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) curated consensus somatic mutation calls using whole exome sequencing (WES) and whole genome sequencing (WGS), respectively. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium, which aggregated whole genome sequencing data from 2,658 cancers across 38 tumour types, we compare WES and WGS side-by-side from 746 TCGA samples, finding that ~80% of mutations overlap in covered exonic regions. We estimate that low variant allele fraction (VAF < 15%) and clonal heterogeneity contribute up to 68% of private WGS mutations and 71% of private WES mutations. We observe that ~30% of private WGS mutations trace to mutations identified by a single variant caller in WES consensus efforts. WGS captures both ~50% more variation in exonic regions and un-observed mutations in loci with variable GC-content. Together, our analysis highlights technological divergences between two reproducible somatic variant detection efforts

Global Governance: The Next Frontier. Egmont Paper, no. 2, April 2004

In the past two decades, globalisation has proven to be not just economic. It is also a political, a cultural and a security phenomenon. Our collective ability to handle all these challenges has not progressed at the same pace as globalisation itself. Today’s rules, instruments and institutions are often inadequate and ineffective to tackle the scale of our challenges, new and old together. Notwithstanding this, serious talk about global governance has been scarce. The very word is sometimes judged divisive. Moreover, after 9/11 world attention seemed to turn to the sole issue of the combat of the threat of terrorism. Global governance suddenly seemed out of sync with today’s anxieties. But neglecting global issues today, spells trouble for tomorrow. No future is inevitable. Ultimately, our kind of future depends on the kind of choices that we are making – or not making – today. The Royal Institute for International Relations set up an informal working group with the aim of drafting an overall concept of global governance. This resulted in ‘Global Governance: The Next Frontier’. Its main aim was to rephrase the debate about global issues by using an alternative umbrella concept. This will help shake up the policy debate, get people to think afresh about these issues and hopefully tie in with some of the creative thinking from the very beginning of the post-Cold War era, that lead to various recommendations many of which still remain valid. ‘Global Governance: The Next Frontier’ rephrases the debate in two distinct ways. First, by equating the functions of governance at the global level with similar functions of governance at the domestic level, thus linking the national society we are all living in with the international community that has to be forged. Secondly, by equating the notion of global governance to that of core global public goods

Burkina Faso’s popular revolution fraying at the edges. Egmont Commentary, 17 April 2015

In this commentary, Valérie Arnould reflects on the implications of the recent changes to the electoral law in Burkina Faso for the country’s transition process. She cautions that a desire to bring the past regime to account should not come at the cost of a genuine democratic transformation

Rethinking what ICC success means at the Bemba Trial. Egmont Commentary, 14 September 2016

A major lesson to be drawn from the recent trial and conviction of former DRC Vice-President Jean-Pierre Bemba is that when measuring ICC success we need to examine its local impact and not just its international effects

Burkina Faso looking ahead: prospects for change or much of the same? Egmont Commentary, 4 December 2015

Burkina Faso’s November elections were historic in many ways, but whether they pave the way for a genuine political change remains an open question

Burkina Faso after Compaoré: Continuity through change? Egmont Commentary, 7 November 2014

This commentary discusses the events which led to the downfall of long-term President Blaise Compaoré in Burkina Faso and the military, political and socioeconomic challenges which lie ahead in stabilising the country