Lessons from Timor-Leste

Post-Konflikt-Einsätze der Vereinten Nationen werden zunehmend damit beauftragt, in frag- ilen Staaten den Sicherheitssektor zu reformieren und tragfähige Sicherheitsinstitutionen zu schaffen. Die mit dem Aufbau der lokalen Sicherheitsinstitutionen beauftragten Missionen von 1999 bis 2005, wurden lange Zeit als erfolgreiche Beispiele für, von externen Akteuren durch- geführte, Sicherheitssektorreform-Maßnahmen betrachtet, da sie es schafften, eine lokale Po- lizei und lokale Sicherheitsinstitutionen zu errichten. Der Zusammenbruch des timoresischen Sicherheitssektors während der gewaltsamen Auseinandersetzungen zwischen den neu ge- schaffenen Sicherheitskräften im April und Mai 2006, zeigte jedoch die Schwächen extern in- duzierter Sicherheitssektorreformen auf. Die folgende Mission der Vereinten Nationen, welche damit beauftragt wurde Timor-Leste beim Wiederaufbau des lokalen Sicherheitssektors zu un- terstützen, sah sich jedoch einem wachsenden Widerstand seitens der timoresischen Regier- ung ausgesetzt, welche vielmehr eigene Vorstellungen bezüglich der Herstellung von Sicherheit durchsetzen wollten. Die vorliegende Studie beschreibt die von den Vereinten Nationen bis zum Zusammenbruch des timoresischen Sicherheitssektors in 2006 durchgeführten Sicherheitssektorreform-Maß- nahmen, und stellt anschließend systemimmanente Mängel des Sicherheitsgovernance-An- satzes der Vereinten Nationen heraus. Zuletzt zeigt sie die Herausbildung eines alternativen, ti- moresischen Ansatzes der Sicherheitsgovernance auf. Es wird argumentiert, dass die Vereinten Nationen mit ihrem Ansatz der Sicherheitsgovernance in Timor-Leste gescheitert sind, und so- mit den Weg für die Entwicklung eines lokalen, timoresischen, Sicherheitsgovernance-Ansatzes geebnet haben.Post-conflict missions by the United Nations are increasingly mandated to reform the secu- rity sector and to establish viable security governance organs in, often, collapsed states. UN missions in Timor-Leste, tasked with the build-up of local security institutions and forces from 1999 to 2005, were regarded by some as successful examples of externally-led security sector transformation in so far as they managed to establish a local police force and local security governance institutions. Yet, the breakdown of the Timorese security sector during violent clashes between newly created security forces in 2006 hinted at weaknesses in the ex- ternally driven implementation of SSR. The UN mission subsequently mandated to assist in rebuilding the dysfunctional security sector, was however openly challenged by growing local resistance towards external meddling into the highly sensitive domain of security, and simul- taneously, by assertive local approaches to security governance. By tracing the UN mission’s steps in performing SSR before and after the security breakdown of 2006, the paper explains inherent flaws in the UN’s approach and expounds the Timorese’ alternative approach. It will be argued that the UN failed to enforce its security governance model in Timor-Leste creating the way for an evolving local approach to security governance

Rethinking Community Policing in International Police Reform

Community policing has often been promoted, particularly in liberal democratic societies, as the best approach to align police services with the principles of good security sector governance (SSG). The stated goal of the community policing approach is to reduce fear of crime within communities, and to overcome mutual distrust between the police and the communities they serve by promoting police citizen partnerships. This SSR Paper traces the historical origins of the concept of community policing in Victorian Great Britain and analyses the processes of transfer, implementation, and adaptation of approaches to community policing in Imperial and post-war Japan, Singapore, and Timor-Leste. The study identifies the factors that were conducive or constraining to the establishment of community policing in each case. It concludes that basic elements of police professionalism and local ownership are necessary preconditions for successfully implementing community policing according to the principles of good SSG. Moreover, external initiatives for community policing must be more closely aligned to the realities of the local context

Rethinking Community Policing in International Police Reform

Community policing has often been promoted, particularly in liberal democratic societies, as the best approach to align police services with the principles of good security sector governance (SSG). The stated goal of the community policing approach is to reduce fear of crime within communities, and to overcome mutual distrust between the police and the communities they serve by promoting police citizen partnerships. This SSR Paper traces the historical origins of the concept of community policing in Victorian Great Britain and analyses the processes of transfer, implementation, and adaptation of approaches to community policing in Imperial and post-war Japan, Singapore, and Timor-Leste. The study identifies the factors that were conducive or constraining to the establishment of community policing in each case. It concludes that basic elements of police professionalism and local ownership are necessary preconditions for successfully implementing community policing according to the principles of good SSG. Moreover, external initiatives for community policing must be more closely aligned to the realities of the local context

A Very Rare Adult Case with Neuroblastoma

We report a 53-year-old male patient who underwent paravertebral mass excision at the D10–11–12 vertebral levels in 2007. The histopathological evaluation of the mass showed the presence of neuroblastoma. The patient was diagnosed with stage IV neuroblastoma. He received 6 courses of chemotherapy and exhibited a stable course until March 2010. When he was reevaluated in March 2010, progression in the metastatic lesion as well as local recurrence was detected. The patient, who was restarted on chemotherapy, developed progressive weakness and loss of sensation of the lower extremity. The neurosurgical investigation revealed an irreversible loss in motor functions. The patient is currently on symptomatic treatment

What's African? Identifying traits of African security governance

African and external approaches to security governance and reform have come to stress the importance of local, national and regional ownership, embodied at the national level by the concept of 'local ownership' of Security Sector Reform and in the recourse to regional and sub-regional security mechanisms as 'African solutions to African problems'. While a normative consensus on this idea seems to have emerged in the policy sphere, we ask what traits can be discerned in the national and regional discourses and practices of security governance that might be plausibly considered specifically African. This article thus explores the discourses and practices of attempts to link aspects of security governance to specific times and places at the national and regional levels in Africa. Tracing the discursive recourse to identity across four eras of modern African history, we argue that specifically African traits of security governance at national and regional levels can be discerned in institutional legacies of repression and poor security governance, as well as the discursive commitment to norms of human security at the regional level, as embodied in the African Peace and Security Architecture

MITF-MIR211 axis is a novel autophagy amplifier system during cellular stress

Macroautophagy (autophagy) is an evolutionarily conserved recycling and stress response mechanism. Active at basal levels in eukaryotes, autophagy is upregulated under stress providing cells with building blocks such as amino acids. A lysosome-integrated sensor system composed of RRAG GTPases and MTOR complex 1 (MTORC1) regulates lysosome biogenesis and autophagy in response to amino acid availability. Stress-mediated inhibition of MTORC1 results in the dephosphorylation and nuclear translocation of the TFE/MITF family of transcriptional factors, and triggers an autophagy- and lysosomal-related gene transcription program. The role of family members TFEB and TFE3 have been studied in detail, but the importance of MITF proteins in autophagy regulation is not clear so far. Here we introduce for the first time a specific role for MITF in autophagy control that involves upregulation of MIR211. We show that, under stress conditions including starvation and MTOR inhibition, a MITF-MIR211 axis constitutes a novel feed-forward loop that controls autophagic activity in cells. Direct targeting of the MTORC2 component RICTOR by MIR211 led to the inhibition of the MTORC1 pathway, further stimulating MITF translocation to the nucleus and completing an autophagy amplification loop. In line with a ubiquitous function, MITF and MIR211 were co-expressed in all tested cell lines and human tissues, and the effects on autophagy were observed in a cell-type independent manner. Thus, our study provides direct evidence that MITF has rate-limiting and specific functions in autophagy regulation. Collectively, the MITF-MIR211 axis constitutes a novel and universal autophagy amplification system that sustains autophagic activity under stress conditions.No sponso