Эволюция взаимодействия Международного уголовного суда и африканских стран

The article is devoted to analysis of the evolution of relations between the International Criminal Court (ICC) and African countries. The article examines the main stages of development of these relations since the participation of African countries in the establishment of the International Criminal Court and its development through the holding of regional meetings dedicated to the establishing of the ICC, also through the majority voting of African countries at the Rome conference in 1998 for the adoption of the ICC Statute. The author notes that the in that tome the Organization of African Unity called upon all Member States to support and cooperate with the ICC. The author points out that recently the critically worsen relations between the African countries and the International Criminal Court for various reasons: the influence of non-States parties to the Rome Statute on the ICC, which violates the principles of independence and impartiality of the Court, international legal background, in particular the contradiction of the provisions of the Rome Statute and the conduct of prosecutions by the ICC to a greater extent only with respect to situations in African countries, which causes criticism from some researchers, and African leaders. In this regard, it becomes necessary to conduct relevant reform of the ICC to ensure its independence and effective performance of its functions by combating impunity and preventing the international crimes.Статья посвящена анализу эволюции отношений между Международным уголовным судом (МУС) и африканскими странами. Исследуются основные этапы развития данных отношений, начиная с участия африканских стран в создании Международного уголовного суда и его развитии путем проведения региональных совещаний, посвященных вопросам создания МУС, а также голосования подавляющим большинством стран Африканского континента на Римской конференции в 1998 г. за принятие Статута МУС. Отмечается, что тогдашняя Организация африканского единства призывала все государства-члены к поддержке и сотрудничеству с МУС. Автор указывает, что в последнее время критически ухудшаются отношения между африканскими странами и Международным уголовным судом по разным причинам: влияние государств, не являющихся участниками Римского статута, на деятельность МУС, что нарушает принципы независимости и беспристрастности Суда; международно-правовые предпосылки, в частности противоречивость положений Римского статута и проведение преследований МУС в большей степени только в отношении ситуаций в государствах Африки, что вызывает критику со стороны некоторых исследователей и африканских лидеров. В связи с этим возникает необходимость провести соответствующую реформу МУС для обеспечения его независимости и эффективного осуществления своих функций по борьбе с безнаказанностью и предупреждению совершения международных преступлений

Эволюция взаимодействия Международного уголовного суда и африканских стран

The article is devoted to analysis of the evolution of relations between the International Criminal Court (ICC) and African countries. The article examines the main stages of development of these relations since the participation of African countries in the establishment of the International Criminal Court and its development through the holding of regional meetings dedicated to the establishing of the ICC, also through the majority voting of African countries at the Rome conference in 1998 for the adoption of the ICC Statute. The author notes that the in that tome the Organization of African Unity called upon all Member States to support and cooperate with the ICC. The author points out that recently the critically worsen relations between the African countries and the International Criminal Court for various reasons: the influence of non-States parties to the Rome Statute on the ICC, which violates the principles of independence and impartiality of the Court, international legal background, in particular the contradiction of the provisions of the Rome Statute and the conduct of prosecutions by the ICC to a greater extent only with respect to situations in African countries, which causes criticism from some researchers, and African leaders. In this regard, it becomes necessary to conduct relevant reform of the ICC to ensure its independence and effective performance of its functions by combating impunity and preventing the international crimes.Статья посвящена анализу эволюции отношений между Международным уголовным судом (МУС) и африканскими странами. Исследуются основные этапы развития данных отношений, начиная с участия африканских стран в создании Международного уголовного суда и его развитии путем проведения региональных совещаний, посвященных вопросам создания МУС, а также голосования подавляющим большинством стран Африканского континента на Римской конференции в 1998 г. за принятие Статута МУС. Отмечается, что тогдашняя Организация африканского единства призывала все государства-члены к поддержке и сотрудничеству с МУС. Автор указывает, что в последнее время критически ухудшаются отношения между африканскими странами и Международным уголовным судом по разным причинам: влияние государств, не являющихся участниками Римского статута, на деятельность МУС, что нарушает принципы независимости и беспристрастности Суда; международно-правовые предпосылки, в частности противоречивость положений Римского статута и проведение преследований МУС в большей степени только в отношении ситуаций в государствах Африки, что вызывает критику со стороны некоторых исследователей и африканских лидеров. В связи с этим возникает необходимость провести соответствующую реформу МУС для обеспечения его независимости и эффективного осуществления своих функций по борьбе с безнаказанностью и предупреждению совершения международных преступлений

Clay (Montmorillonite K10) catalysis of the Michael addition of alpha,beta-unsaturated carbonyl compounds to indoles: The beneficial role of alcohols

The Michael addition of methylvinylketone to indole can be performed under smooth conditions by running the reaction in the presence of an acidic clay catalyst (K10 Montmorillonite) and an aliphatic alcohol such as ethanol or 2-propanol. Presence of an alcohol along with a polar solvent (nitromethane) in the reaction medium considerably improves the reaction

The issues of legitimacy of the international criminal court in its relations with african countries in the sphere of counteracting international crimes

The authors study the legitimacy of the establishment and work of the International Criminal Court (ICC) from the perspective of African countries. They point out that African countries initially supported the idea of creating the ICC and actively participated in its establishment and development. However, after the Court initiated investigations regarding the current President of Sudan Omar Al-Bashir and other African leaders (current President of Kenia Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta, its Vice-President William Samoei Ruto, former Head of the Great Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Muammar Gaddafi, the ex-President of Cote d’Ivoire Laurent Gbagbo, and others), the ICC began to lose its legitimacy in the eyes of most African leaders, who started to perceive it as a political instrument of Western countries. As a result, the African Union in its Resolutions (13 (XIII), 987 (XXIX), 952 (XXVIII) and others) called on African countries to stop cooperating with the ICC concerning warrants for the arrest of current officials and, finally, to totally withdraw from the Rome Statute of the ICC of 1998 because it believed that the Court is selective in its persecution of Africans only. Following this, three African countries (Bu-rundi, the South African Republic and Gambia) announced in 2016 that they intend to withdraw from the Rome Statute. However, the South African Republic and Gambia did not do this due to internal political situation and pressure from the Western countries, and only Burundi withdrew from the 1998 Rome Statute on October 27, 2017. Besides, the African Union initiated the establishment of the International Criminal Chamber within its regional court — the African Court of Justice and Human Rights (Malabo Protocol of 2014); the authors believe it to be the reaction of the African countries to the activities of the ICC. Based on their research, the authors suggest reforming the International Criminal Court to ensure its independence and impartiality in fighting international crimes and impunity, as well as developing regional criminal justice in Africa. © 2019, Baikal National University of Economics and Law. All rights reserved

Structural and Kinetic Characterization of Hyperthermophilic NADH-Dependent Persulfide Reductase from Archaeoglobus fulgidus

NADH-dependent persulfide reductase (Npsr) has been proposed to facilitate dissimilatory sulfur respiration by reducing persulfide or sulfane sulfur-containing substrates to H2S. The presence of this gene in the sulfate and thiosulfate-reducing Archaeoglobus fulgidus DSM 4304 and other hyperthermophilic Archaeoglobales appears anomalous, as A. fulgidus is unable to respire S0 and grow in the presence of elemental sulfur. To assess the role of Npsr in the sulfur metabolism of A. fulgidus DSM 4304, the Npsr from A. fulgidus was characterized. AfNpsr is specific for persulfide and polysulfide as substrates in the oxidative half-reaction, exhibiting kcat/Km on the order of 104 M-1 s-1, which is similar to the kinetic parameters observed for hyperthermophilic CoA persulfide reductases. In contrast to the bacterial Npsr, AfNpsr exhibits low disulfide reductase activity with DTNB; however, similar to the bacterial enzymes, it does not show detectable activity with CoA-disulfide, oxidized glutathione, or cystine. The 3.1 Å X-ray structure of AfNpsr reveals access to the tightly bound catalytic CoA, and the active site Cys 42 is restricted by a flexible loop (residues 60-66) that is not seen in the bacterial homologs from Shewanella loihica PV-4 and Bacillus anthracis. Unlike the bacterial enzymes, AfNpsr exhibits NADH oxidase activity and also shows no detectable activity with NADPH. Models suggest steric and electrostatic repulsions of the NADPH 2′-phosphate account for the strong preference for NADH. The presence of Npsr in the nonsulfur-reducing A. fulgidus suggests that the enzyme may offer some protection against S0 or serve in another metabolic role that has yet to be identified

Global temporal changes in the proportion of children with advanced disease at the start of combination antiretroviral therapy in an era of changing criteria for treatment initiation

Introduction: The CD4 cell count and percent at initiation of combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) are measures of advanced HIV disease and thus are important indicators of programme performance for children living with HIV. In particular, World Health Organization (WHO) 2017 guidelines on advanced HIV disease noted that >80% of children aged <5 years started cART with WHO Stage 3 or 4 disease or severe immune suppression. We compared temporal trends in CD4 measures at cART start in children from low-, middle- and high-income countries, and examined the effect of WHO treatment initiation guidelines on reducing the proportion of children initiating cART with advanced disease. Methods: We included children aged <16 years from the International Epidemiology Databases to Evaluate acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) (IeDEA) Collaboration (Caribbean, Central and South America, Asia-Pacific, and West, Central, East and Southern Africa), the Collaboration of Observational HIV Epidemiological Research in Europe (COHERE), the North American Pediatric HIV/AIDS Cohort Study (PHACS) and International Maternal Pediatric Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials (IMPAACT) 219C study. Severe immunodeficiency was defined using WHO guidelines. We used generalized weighted additive mixed effect models to analyse temporal trends in CD4 measurements and piecewise regression to examine the impact of 2006 and 2010 WHO cART initiation guidelines. Results: We included 52,153 children from fourteen low-, eight lower middle-, five upper middle- and five high-income countries. From 2004 to 2013, the estimated percentage of children starting cART with severe immunodeficiency declined from 70% to 42% (low-income), 67% to 64% (lower middle-income) and 61% to 43% (upper middle-income countries). In high-income countries, severe immunodeficiency at cART initiation declined from 45% (1996) to 14% (2012). There were annual decreases in the percentage of children with severe immunodeficiency at cART initiation after the WHO guidelines revisions in 2006 (low-, lower middle- and upper middle-income countries) and 2010 (all countries). Conclusions: By 2013, less than half of children initiating cART had severe immunodeficiency worldwide. WHO treatment initiation guidelines have contributed to reducing the proportion of children and adolescents starting cART with advanced disease. However, considerable global inequity remains, in 2013, >40% of children in low- and middle-income countries started cART with severe immunodeficiency compared to <20% in high-income countries