The UN Charter – A Global Constitution?

Is the UN Charter a constitution? Answering that question depends on what we mean by a constitution and to what alternative we are contrasting a constitution. If the relevant contrast is to the U.S. Constitution – the constitution of a sovereign state – the answer is clearly no. The United Nations was not intended to create a world state. As the Charter\u27s preamble announces, it was created for ambitious but specific purposes: “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war,” to “reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights,” to “establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained,” and to “promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom.” The United Nations, moreover, is an organization based on the “sovereign equality of all its members” (art. 2.1), its membership being open to all “peace-loving states” (art. 4.1). This contrasts strikingly with the U.S. Constitution\u27s much more general, sovereign-creating purposes: “to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.” The UN Charter lacks at least two of the three key attributes that the Constitutional Court of South Africa identified as essential to a constitution. In Pharmaceutical, the court averred that a constitution is a unified system of law: “There is only one system of law

Responsibility Sharing and the Global Compact on Refugees

Strengthening the Refugee Regime calls for enhancing responsibility sharing. Responsibility sharing was a central commitment in the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants. It also is a key commitment in the preamble to the landmark 1951 Refugee Convention. Countries of first refuge are promised that their providing refuge will be met by “international cooperation,” though without specifying its content. Yet, just as the 1951 Refugee Convention failed to define what international cooperation meant; so too the New York Declaration is – as was the Humanitarian Summit before it - long on principles; and short on specific commitments. Today, therefore, responsibility sharing, as Peter Sutherland has so aptly characterized it, amounts to “Responsibility by Proximity.” Neighboring countries such as Syria’s neighbors, Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan overwhelmingly serve as the refuge for Syrians who have managed to flee its devastating civil war. This means that globally the developing world, both relatively poor and home to so many of the world’s armed conflicts, also serves as the refuge for 86% of the world’s refugees … and it does so without adequate international funding (only 40% of the UNHCR appeal for the region was met in 2016)

Principles for Responsibility Sharing: Proximity, Culpability, Moral Accountability, and Capability

In this Essay, we explore how responsibility based on culpability, moral accountability, and capability can improve the current regime that rests on responsibility by proximity. In doing so, we draw on the 2017 Model International Mobility Convention (MIMC), a model convention drafted by a commission of independent experts and currently supported as a project of the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs

Human monoclonal antibodies against NS1 protein protect against lethal West Nile virus infection

Envelope protein-targeted vaccines for flaviviruses are limited by concerns of antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) of infections. Nonstructural protein 1 (NS1) provides an alternative vaccine target that avoids this risk since this protein is absent from the virion. Beyond its intracellular role in virus replication, extracellular forms of NS1 function in immune modulation and are recognized by host-derived antibodies. The rational design of NS1-based vaccines requires an extensive understanding of the antigenic sites on NS1, especially those targeted by protective antibodies. Here, we isolated human monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) from individuals previously naturally infected with WNV, mapped their epitopes using structure-guided mutagenesis, and evaluated their efficac

Legitimacy in conflict: concepts, practices, challenges

The study of legitimacy in situations of conflict and peacebuilding has increased in recent years. However, current work on the topic adopts many assumptions, definitions, and understandings from classical legitimacy theory, which centers on the relationship between the nation-state and its citizens. In this introduction, we provide a detailed critical overview of current theories of legitimacy and legitimation and demonstrate why they have only limited applicability in conflict and post-conflict contexts, focusing on the three main areas that the articles included in this special issue examine: audiences for legitimacy, sources of legitimacy, and legitimation. In particular, we show how conflict and post-conflict contexts are marked by the fragmentation and personalization of power; the proliferation and fragmentation of legitimacy audiences; and ambiguity surrounding legitimation strategies

Spectroscopy of formaldehyde in the 30140-30790cm^-1 range

Room-temperature absorption spectroscopy of formaldehyde has been performed in the 30140-30790cm^-1 range. Using tunable ultraviolet continuous-wave laser light, individual rotational lines are well resolved in the Doppler-broadened spectrum. Making use of genetic algorithms, the main features of the spectrum are reproduced. Spectral data is made available as Supporting Information

Kepler-16: A Transiting Circumbinary Planet

We report the detection of a planet whose orbit surrounds a pair of low-mass stars. Data from the Kepler spacecraft reveal transits of the planet across both stars, in addition to the mutual eclipses of the stars, giving precise constraints on the absolute dimensions of all three bodies. The planet is comparable to Saturn in mass and size, and is on a nearly circular 229-day orbit around its two parent stars. The eclipsing stars are 20% and 69% as massive as the sun, and have an eccentric 41-day orbit. The motions of all three bodies are confined to within 0.5 degree of a single plane, suggesting that the planet formed within a circumbinary disk.Comment: Science, in press; for supplemental material see http://www.sciencemag.org/content/suppl/2011/09/14/333.6049.1602.DC1/1210923.Doyle.SOM.pd