‘Cyber Due Diligence’: A Patchwork of Protective Obligations in International Law

With a long history in international law, the concept of due diligence has recently gained traction in the cyber domain, as a promising avenue to hold States accountable for harmful cyber operations originating from or transiting through their territory, in the absence of attribution. Nonetheless, confusion surrounds its nature, content and scope. It remains unclear whether due diligence is a general principle of international law, a self-standing obligation or a standard of conduct, and whether there is a specific rule requiring diligent behaviour in cyberspace. This has created an ‘all-or-nothing’ perception: either States have agreed to a rule or principle of ‘cyber due diligence’, or no obligation to behave diligently would exist in cyberspace. We propose to shift the debate from label to substance, asking whether States have duties to protect other States and individuals from cyber harms. By revisiting traditional cases, as well as surveying recent State practice, we contend that — whether or not there is consensus on ‘cyber due diligence’ — a patchwork of different protective obligations already applies, by default, in cyberspace. At their core is a flexible standard of diligent behaviour requiring States to take reasonable steps to prevent, halt and/or redress a range of online harms

When should the ICC prosecutor defer investigations or prosecutions in situations of active armed conflict in favor of peace negotiations?

A key reform that has the potential to make the international criminal justice project stronger,more efficient and more effective is the consideration of peace negotiations as an additional factor in the Prosecutor’s decision of whether or not to pursue an investigation or prosecution ‘in the interests of justice’, in accordance with Article 53(1)(c) and 2(c) of the Rome Statute. At present, this would require a revision of the Policy Papers issued on this question, in particular, the 2013 Policy Paper on Preliminary Examinations and the 2007 Policy Paper on the Interests of Justice. Significantly, such reform has the potential to prevent or alleviate, at least in part, some of the most pressing problems encountered by the ICC Office of the Prosecutor (OTP), namely, the lack of state cooperation, limited budget, and lengthy or complex proceedings.The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007-2013) / ERC Grant Agreement No 340956 - IOW - The Individualisation of War: Reconfiguring the Ethics, Law, and Politics of Armed Conflict

Prevent, Respond, Cooperate: States’ Due Diligence Duties vis-à-vis the Covid-19 Pandemic

While disease outbreaks remain to a certain extent unforeseeable, international law provides a comprehensive legal framework requiring States to prevent their harmful consequences, effectively respond to ensuing health emergencies, and cooperate in achieving those aims. This contribution shows that, within this framework, many rules take the form of ‘due diligence’ obligations. Obligations of due diligence, albeit inherently flexible to accommodate different capabilities and circumstances, are binding on States. They impose a duty to act according to a standard of ‘good governance’: a State must employ its best efforts to realise certain common goals. At least five key sets of rules establishing due diligence duties are relevant to the Covid-19 outbreak: a) the ‘no-harm’ principle; b) international disaster law; c) the International Health Regulations; d) international human rights law; and e) international humanitarian law. We preliminarily identify some of the actions required from States to prevent new outbreaks and respond to the pandemic, whilst assessing compliance with applicable rules. We conclude that hard lessons learned during the current pandemic should spur more decisive action to prevent and address future public health emergencies

Drawing the Cyber Baseline: The Applicability of Existing International Law to the Governance of Information and Communication Technologies

"Cyberspace" is often treated as a new domain of State activity in international legal discourse. This has led to the assumption that for international law to apply to cyber operations carried out by States or non-State actors, "cyber-specific" State practice and opinio juris must be demonstrated. This article challenges that assumption on five different bases. First, it argues that rules of general international law are generally applicable to all domains, areas, or types of State activity. In their interpretation and application to purported new domains, limitations to their scope of application cannot be presumed. Second, this article demonstrates that the concept of "domain" is not aimed at excluding certain domains from international law’s scope of application. Third, in any event, cyberspace is not a domain or a space, in the way that land, air, sea, or outer space are. Rather, it is a combination of multilayered information and communications technologies operating across different domains. Fourth, and relatedly, international law is technology-neutral, in that it applies to all technology unless stated otherwise. Fifth, the framing of certain international legal rules as policy recommendations cannot displace existing international law. On those bases, we conclude that existing international law applies as a whole and by default to States’ use of information and communications technologies

Spatiotemporal ecology of two Neotropical herbivorous mammals

On this study, we used camera traps in a Semi deciduous Seasonal Forest, northeast of Brazil, to estimate the frequencies of occurrence of two Neotropical herbivorous mammals: the spotted paca (Cuniculus paca) and the tapeti (Sylvilagus brasiliensis), analyzing their seasonal variations of spatial distribution. We also characterized the activity pattern of the species and their seasonal variation. The herbivorous frequencies of occurrence were constant during all the seasons. In general, both species were mostly active at night. However, between the rainy and dry season, we identified differences in spotted paca activity peaks. Here we present one of the first studies on the tapeti, whose ecology is understudied. Our results also show a general view of the spotted paca and tapeti behavior strategies to seasonal variations. Due to the scarce food resource in the dry season, possibly these herbivorous need to search for different kinds of food available IFS around

Spatiotemporal ecology of two Neotropical herbivorous mammals

On this study, we used camera traps in a Semi deciduous Seasonal Forest, northeast of Brazil, to estimate the frequencies of occurrence of two Neotropical herbivorous mammals: the spotted paca (Cuniculus paca) and the tapeti (Sylvilagus brasiliensis), analyzing their seasonal variations of spatial distribution. We also characterized the activity pattern of the species and their seasonal variation. The herbivorous frequencies of occurrence were constant during all the seasons. In general, both species were mostly active at night. However, between the rainy and dry season, we identified differences in spotted paca activity peaks. Here we present one of the first studies on the tapeti, whose ecology is understudied. Our results also show a general view of the spotted paca and tapeti behavior strategies to seasonal variations. Due to the scarce food resource in the dry season, possibly these herbivorous need to search for different kinds of food available IFS around

Crenças de discentes do curso de pedagogia sobre o bom professor/ Pedagogy students' beliefs over the good teacher

Este artigo tem como objetivo compreender as crenças dos discentes do curso de Pedagogia sobre o “bom professor”, descrevendo-as e relacionando-as com a formação inicial. Neste sentido, indagamos: qual a importância das crenças para a relação teoria e prática na formação dos pedagogos? É em Hume (2004, 2009) que nos ancoramos inicialmente, para esclarecimento do conceito de crença. A concepção das crenças com origem na fala dos participantes desta investigação, se deu a partir de algumas técnicas da análise do discurso (MAINGUENEAU, 2015; BAKHTIN, 2016; MINAYO, 2008; FLICK, 2009) e da análise de conteúdo (BARDIN, 2016), sobretudo no que diz respeito a sua contribuição quanto as categorias de análise tendo por base os relatos dos participantes da investigação.  Em seguida, com Gay (2014), Soares e Bejarano (2008), Soares e Porto (2006), Gatti (1996) e Charlot (2014), entre outros, relacionamos saberes e analisamos a interseção entre crenças e docência. A pesquisa constatou que as crenças apontadas pelos alunos nada mais são do que saberes: os saberes profissionais docentes.Ao se expressarem sobre as crenças eles afirmam que o bom professor é aquele que realiza a humana docência, articula saberes, alia teoria e prática; é realizador de práxis; tem vasta metodologia; é agente político, percebe-se aprendiz e tem afeto pelo trabalho que realiza

Botanical fungicides in the control of soybean leaf diseases / Fungicidas botânicos no controle de doenças foliares na soja

The soybean cultivation (Glycine max (L.) Merrill) is responsible for the highest pesticides use in agriculture in Brazil. There is an environmental and social need to reduce the use of these substances in crops. The alternative products applied in agriculture such as plant extracts and essential oils, becomes necessary and indispensable, mainly in disease control. Among the plants studied, the Noni (Morinda citrifolia L.), has stood out in some studies, where relevant fungitoxic results have been demonstrated, however, there are still few works that prove its viability in the diseases management in field. Thus, this work aimed to evaluate the soybean diseases alternative control through the aqueous extracts and noni essential oil application, in plantings high and low disease pressure. Two field experiments were implemented, with soybean culture, evaluating leaf, fruit aqueous extract and noni essential oil as a fungicidal action. Foliar application of noni extracts and essential oil did not differ from fungicide in Asian Rust and Anthracnose control, in the 2016/17 crop, in both experiments. Soybean productivity was similar in treatments that received leaf extract (1748,8 Kg ha-1), essential oil (1762,5 Kg ha-1) and fungicides (2031,7 Kg ha-1). Where there was no large disease pressure all agronomic characteristics were equivalent, regardless of treatment.