Immunity from arrest? - An analysis of obligations for State Parties to the Rome Statute to arrest and surrender a Head of State of a state not party to the Statute in a situation referred to the ICC pursuant to a UN Security Council resolution

The International Criminal Court (ICC) was created as a compliment to domestic courts in the global fight against impunity. However, customary international law has afforded Heads of State with immunity from prosecution, even for serious international crimes. Some key challenges of international criminal law are to reconcile the competing objectives of maintaining stable international relations, and protecting the sovereignty of States, through immunity rules and ensuring that perpetrators of international crimes are held accountable. These challenges are currently under intense scrutiny. Some State Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (Rome Statute) are refusing to comply with the ICC’s request to arrest Omar Hassan Al Bashir, the incumbent President of Sudan. Bashir is facing charges before the ICC due to a referral by the United Nation Security Council (UNSC) to the ICC of the situation in Darfur, Sudan. Sudan is not a party to the Statute. Therefore, State Parties argues customary international law governs the relationship between them and Sudan. According to the states, this entails that Bashir is entitled to immunity from being arrested, even when the arrest is sought by ICC. The purpose of this thesis was to discuss and analyse the concept of Head of State immunity and the obligation states have to respect such immunity. Immunity rules under customary international law has been analysed in relation to State Party obligations pursuant to the Rome Statute to disregard such immunity when the Court seeks to arrest an incumbent Head of State. The purpose included clarifying which legal regime applies with regards to the allegedly conflicting obligations for State Parties when a situation is before the ICC pursuant to a referral of a situation by the UNSC. As there is no genuine solution of norm conflict in international law, the author has opted for a legal dogmatic method combined with international legal doctrine. As such, interpretation of the relevant sources of law according to established principles has been of focus. In order to provide the most appropriate interpretation of the relevant legal regimes, the thesis includes a historical and political perspective. There is also sufficient evidence African states are not willing to cooperate with the ICC because of political concerns. The development of customary international law governing Head of State immunity entails that personal immunity before domestic courts is absolute. However, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) opened up for an exception which removes personal Head of State immunity before international courts. Incumbent Heads of State has since then been arrested and prosecuted before e.g. the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia, International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the Special Court of Sierra Leone. Scholars have argued that the ICJ suggested there is a new rule under customary international law which removes Head of State immunity before international jurisdiction. The author of this thesis argues that state practice has not yet constituted such exception. Instead, the author argues international courts have applied different legal regimes enabling them to prosecute and arrest incumbent Heads of States. These regimes provide for provisions which make that legal regime prevailing over customary international law. In efforts to solve the issues of non-cooperation in the Bashir case, the ICC’s three-panel Pre-trial Chamber (PTC) has issued decisions against several State Parties. In line with these decisions, the author argues that the legal effect of a UNSC resolution referring a situation to the ICC is that the Rome Statute in its entirety is applicable to that situation. By applying a teleological interpretation of the referral mechanism and Resolution 1593, Sudan should be treated analogously to a State Party under the Rome Statute. Under the Rome Statute, State Parties cannot impose personal immunity as a bar for prosecution. As such, the Rome Statute prevails over customary international law on immunities. It has been argued that removal of immunity before the ICC only applies to its jurisdiction. The author argues it applies also at the national level, when national authorities act in support of the ICC. However, the PTC has been inconsistent in its decisions, applying different legal rationales. Therefore, the legal rationale, to some extent, lacks credibility. This fact opens up for critique and leaves the legal rationale ineffective. The author of this thesis argues against this critique. However, higher authority must address these matters to provide acceptance to the legal rationale in the international community. The ICC’s Appeals Chamber has this opportunity since Jordan appealed the decision on non-cooperation against it. The credibility of the legal rationale is to some extent also dependent on political actions. The Assembly of State Parties to the ICC has called upon State Parties to comply with ICC’s arrest warrant. UNSC is the sole actor involved, which has not taken any measures to either endorse or decline the legal rationale issued by the PTC. Leaving the legal issues to the politically oriented UNSC is neither desirable nor compatible with respect for the rule of law. Therefore, Jordan’s appeal and the future judgment by the Appeals Chamber are crucial for the future practice by the ICC. Specifically, with regards to personal Head of State immunity in situations referred by the UNSC

Mapping the content and fates of scarce metals in discarded cars

A great variety of current products make use of components or materials (e.g. electronics, steel and aluminium alloys) that utilise increasing amounts of ‘critical’ or scarce metals (SM). For example, design trends for cars point at increasing SM utilisation in order for regulatory, business and consumer requirements on environmental performance, safety, costs, comfort and infotainment to be met. Modern cars now hold SM in substantial amounts, i.e. the circa one billion cars in use worldwide today, constitute a significant near-term secondary SM resource. However, current end-of-life vehicle (ELV) recycling is mainly aimed at isolating hazardous contents, dismantling spare parts and recycling bulk metals. There is thus a clear risk that ELV SM are not functionally recycled and thus lost for further use. Assessments of the opportunities for increased functional recycling require estimates of SM content of discarded cars and individual waste flows in ELV recycling. However, information on both is limited. Data related to cars is sparse, and challenged by the large range and age span of discarded car brands and models. Measurements of SM in waste flows are few and cover a limited range of SM. Consequently, available data does not allow us to quantify with precision the SM contents of discarded cars reaching the ELV recycling system, or map individual metal flows within it. Instead, our approach relies on mapping 25 ELV SM to main types of applications within three newly produced car models using automotive industry data (International Material Data System, IMDS), and letting these models represent the ELV fleet so that the annual input magnitudes of SM to ELV management can be estimated. Subsequently, we employ material flow analysis of ELV waste streams as basis for identifying potential pathways of these main applications, and the extent to which contained metals may reach processes capable of functional recycling. The approach allows us to qualitatively distinguish subsets of systems flows holding groups of SM, and discuss the potential for functional recycling. Using Swedish ELV management as a case, we conclude that only platinum may be functionally recycled in its main application. Cobalt, gold, manganese, molybdenum, palladium, rhodium and silver may be functionally recycled depending on application and pathways taken. For remaining 17 metals, functional recycling is lacking. Consequently, there is considerable risk of losing SM with current ELV procedures. Given differences in the application of metals and identified pathways, strategies for improving recycling and resource security are considered. Moreover, our case illustrates the considerable challenge, posed by the complexity and range of car configurations and the sparsity of information on SM, to closer assess recycling strategies and advance secondary SM resource utilisation

Reading tea leaves worldwide: decoupled drivers of initial litter decomposition mass‐loss rate and stabilization

The breakdown of plant material fuels soil functioning and biodiversity. Currently, process understanding of global decomposition patterns and the drivers of such patterns are hampered by the lack of coherent large‐scale datasets. We buried 36,000 individual litterbags (tea bags) worldwide and found an overall negative correlation between initial mass‐loss rates and stabilization factors of plant‐derived carbon, using the Tea Bag Index (TBI). The stabilization factor quantifies the degree to which easy‐to‐degrade components accumulate during early‐stage decomposition (e.g. by environmental limitations). However, agriculture and an interaction between moisture and temperature led to a decoupling between initial mass‐loss rates and stabilization, notably in colder locations. Using TBI improved mass‐loss estimates of natural litter compared to models that ignored stabilization. Ignoring the transformation of dead plant material to more recalcitrant substances during early‐stage decomposition, and the environmental control of this transformation, could overestimate carbon losses during early decomposition in carbon cycle models

Ny tid, ny prövning, utan ersättning - en analys av vattenverksamhetsutredningens förhållande till egendomsskyddet i EKMR

Utifrån en de lege ferenda-undersökning och med traditionell rättsdogmatisk metod behandlar uppsatsen förhållandet mellan vattenverksamhetsutred-ningen och egendomsskyddet i EKMR. EU ställer hårda krav på vattenkvalitet. Sverige når inte upp till kraven. Den svenska lagstiftningen tillåter särskilda rättigheter och tillstånd givna enligt lagstiftning från början av 1900-talet, trots syftet med tillståndsprövningen då var ett helt annat än i dag. Rättsliga åtgärder har konstaterats måste vidtas. Vattenverksamhetsutredningen fick i uppdrag att utreda möjliga åtgärder. I slutet av 2014 publicerades utredningens slutbetänkande som ger förslag om att ett nyprövningsförfarande ska inrättas och moderna miljökrav kunna ställas på verksamheter som bedrivs med stöd av särskilda rättigheter eller tillstånd givna enligt äldre rätt. Förfarandet har konstaterats komma att innebära rådighetsinskränkningar i grundlagens mening. Ingreppen i tillstånden ska dock ske utan att ersättning ges, dessutom upphävs den nu gällande ersättningsrätt som finns vid omprövning av tillstånd. Förslaget har utsatts för en del kritik, bland annat att förslagets förhållande till EKMR inte utretts tillräckligt. Därför har syftet med denna uppsats varit att utreda saken närmare och analysera om förslaget om nyprövning och ersättningsrätt kan stå i strid med egendomsskyddet i EKMR. Utgångspunkt har varit att en sådan risk finns, varför uppsatsen präglas av dels ett medborgarperspektiv dels ett rättskritiskt perspektiv. Uppsatsens deskriptiva del utgår från ett rättsutvecklingsperspektiv och har utgångspunkt i vattenverksamhetsutredningens förslag, med inslag av äldre och gällande rätt. Därefter redogörs för egendomsskyddet i EKMR, där framförallt praxis från Europadomstolen avgör tillämpningen av skyddet. Analysen behandlar systematiskt förhållandet mellan förslaget och egendomsskyddet. Det kan konstateras att nyprövningsförfarandet tränger igenom egendomsskyddet på grund av att det motiveras med miljörättsliga intressen. Emellertid ska alltid en avvägning göras mellan allmänna och enskilda intressen, samt ska proportionalitet alltid iakttas. Vid en sådan bedömning ska ersättningsrätt beaktas. På grund av föreslagna övergångsperioder har utredningen dock lyckats föreslå en förändring som inte kommer stå i strid med egendomsskyddet i EKMR. En vidare utredning av förslagets förhållande till egendomsskyddet var behövlig, men kritiken mot förslaget får anses grundlös.This essay deals with the relations between EU human rights law and Swedish environmental law. EU law sets strict demands on the quality of water in all their member states. Sweden has not succeeded with these requirements. The Swedish system allows permit for water operations that was given according to laws from the beginning of the 20th century. The purpose of the laws then was to explore the hydropower production while today the purpose is more environmentally oriented. Therefor, an update on the Swe-dish legal system is necessary. A legal commission came up with a proposal in 2014. The proposition implied that all permissions for hydropower activity would face a new consideration according the Swedish environmental code and that this will be possible without compensation to the operator of the hydropower plants. However, this proposition met some criticism about how well it consistent would be with the protection of property in the Euro-pean Convention on Human Rights. Therefore, the aim of this essay has been to examine this connection and se if the proposal might be in conflict with the convention. The descriptive part of the essay is based on a development perspective and describes the proposition from the legal commission and also the laws on the subject from the end of the 19th century up until today. Also the enforcement of the protection of property in ECHR will be described. In the analysis concludes that the proposition will not be in conflict with the protection of property within ECHR. However, a further investigation was needed, but the criticism directed to the proposition is ill founded

Impact of glucose feed rate on productivity and recombinant protein quality in Escherichia coli

The goal of this work was to contribute to the fed-batch process optimisation task by deriving parameters that have considerable impact on productivity as well as product quality The chosen parameters were I) the design of the glucose feed profile, II) the choice of induction strategy, with respect to the method of addition, and III) the time of the induction, with respect to the specific glucose consumption rate. The present fed-batch experiments using the lacUV5-promoter, for production of b-galactosidase, have shown that a high glucose feed rate gives a specific production rate, qp, that is twice as high, after induction, compared to a feed rate that is 2.5 times lower. The constant accumulation of lacZ-mRNA indicates that the translational capacity is initially limiting the synthesis machinery, but after four hours of maximum specific production and a corresponding drop in lacZ-mRNA production, the cultivation is likely to be transcription limited. The high feed-rate system resulted in high accumulation of β-galactosidase, corresponding to 40% of total cellular proteins. By design of feed profiles in a fed-batch process the detrimental effects of overflow metabolism, giving acetic acid formation, can be avoided. However, the results show that a one-dose addition of isopropyl-β-D-galactopyranoside (IPTG), provokes a non-growth associated production of acetic acid. This response can be alleviated by; lowering the inducer concentration (in this case to below 165 μM), by further reducing the feed rate of glucose or by using alternative induction methods. The use of a stepwise addition or a feed of IPTG thus delayed and reduced the level of acetic acid accumulation. It was also shown that a small change in the time-point of induction lead to large variability, regarding both productivity and acetic acid accumulation, in a fed-batch cultivation, In order to further investigate the protein quality two additional proteins were studied in fed-batch cultivations using high and low glucose feed. The aim was to prove the hypothesis that the feed related change in the rate of synthesis of the nascent polypeptide controls the product quality. For the two proteins: Zb-MalE (wt) and Zb-MalE31 (mutant), the transcription rate, in terms of amount of IPTG, and translation rate, in terms of changes in feed rate, influences the percentage of inclusion body formation and degradation of nascent polypeptide. The data show a higher rate of inclusion body formation for the model protein Zb-MalE31 during high feed rate cultivations, as well as at high levels of inducer. Furthermore, the rate of proteolysis was significantly higher for a high feed rate. The high feed rate thus results in a higher rate of synthesis but a lower corresponding quality, for the model proteins studied. In the present investigation of fed-batch cultivations using several different expression vectors, it was found that the central alarmone guanosine tetraphosphate (ppGpp) was formed at both high and low feed rates upon induction. It could be shown, however, that by secretion of Zb-MalE to the periplasm, the stringent response could be avoided. This might be due to the decreased burden on the host where the secretion of product further seems to make the cell able to redirect the carbon flux from overflow metabolism, since no acetic acid was produced. The secretion also demonstrates that the growth arrest could be aborted, which is otherwise gained in the PmalK production system. A novel fed-batch process based on the promoters for the universal stress proteins A and B (PuspA, PuspB) was designed to make use of these powerful promoters in an industrial production context. It was concluded that the process had to start from a high specific growth rate and induction was performed once a limiting feed started. This was done to purposely induce the stringent response and/or acetic acid accumulation since this was required for induction. In the suggested system, induction has to be performed and maintained at continuous substrate feeding, whilst avoiding exceeding the cellular capacity, since the stationary phase starvation alone did not lead to production. In conclusion, a new stress induction based production system was achieved resulting in high accumulations of product protein without any detected metabolic side effects.QC 20101008</p

“Depending on what you read to the children, they unconsciously get into these gender roles" : A study on how educators in preschool think about using children's books to prevent traditional gender roles

Förskolan har i uppdrag att aktivt arbeta för en jämställd verksamhet där alla barn får möjligheter att utveckla sin egen individ oberoende av könsuppfattningar. I läroplanen för förskolan skrivs också att barn ska få chans att ta till sig barnböcker och dess innehåll, uttrycka sig och utmana sitt tänkande (Skolverket, 2018). Syftet med detta examensarbete är att undersöka hur förskollärare och barnskötare tänker och agerar utifrån ämnen som genus, normer och jämställdhet i relation till arbete med barnböcker för att motverka traditionella könsroller. De teoretiska utgångspunkterna vi använt oss av är Hirdman och Hardings genusteorier. Vi har använt oss av en kvalitativ ansats där vi har genomfört semistrukturerade intervjuer med tio förskollärare och barnskötare fördelade på två förskolor. Fokus var att synliggöra hur de tänker kring genus, normer, jämställdhet och barnböcker. En inventering av barnböcker utfördes på respektive förskola för att synliggöra verksamheternas variation av barnböcker. Resultatet av inventeringen redovisas i resultatavsnittet. En kvalitativ innehållsanalys har genomförts. Den resulterade i sex kategorier där pedagogernas tankar kring centrala aspekter i förhållande till arbetet med genus, normer och jämställdhet avseende barnböcker framkommer

To be a product : A study about how to communicate your identity on the Internet with a blog as communication tool.

The users of social media channels are today increasing rapidly. Because of this it has become more important for individuals to be seen and stand out of the crowd. The concept of personal branding has become more widespread and is today an important factor for individuals who want to communicate their personality on the Internet.The purpose of this study is to examine the role of personal branding in today’s society and to find similarities in how established bloggers use communication tools to increase their visibility. This has been done through qualitative interviews with individuals who write and shape their blogs depending on how they want to be seen on the Internet.By analysing our findings we came to the conclusion that personal branding is becoming more important in a world that is becoming more and more digitalized. Since the study has been viewed on from a transmitter perspective we have created a model that has the purpose to be an alternative guideline to show how to create a strong personal brand with a blog as the communication tool.