Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

The Role of the United States Supreme Court in Interpreting and Developing Humanitarian Law

In the absence of a single authoritative mechanism to interpret humanitarian law, a number of treaty bodies, national courts, regional human rights courts/commissions, international tribunals, and thematic mechanisms have been called upon to address humanitarian law issues. Prime among these institutions is the United States Supreme Court. Though only in a small number of cases, the Court has relied on humanitarian law principles and treaties from the early days of the Republic to the “war on terrorism.” In what ways does the Court invoke this body of law and how competent is its analysis? Is the Court institutionally equipped to play a meaningful role in the development of humanitarian law

Do Norms Reduce Torture?

One of the most important developments in international political and legal theory over the last 15 years has been the assertion that norms affect state behavior. Scholars have claimed that states are constrained by norms of appropriate behavior and furthermore that norms actually change ("reconstitute") states' understandings of their interests, thereby leading states to adapt their behavior in accordance with these new understandings. We test the proposition that norms alter state behavior with respect to the expanding international norm against torture from 1985 through 2003. Unfortunately, we find no evidence that the spreading of the international norm against torture, measured by the percentage of countries in the world that have acceded to the United Nations Convention against Torture, has led to any reduction in torture according to a variety of measures. (c) 2009 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved..

The Role of the Committee on the Rights of the Child in Interpreting and Developing International Humanitarian Law

The interaction between human rights law and international humanitarian law (IHL) has received a great deal of scholarly attention. Commentators note the increased presence of IHL in the work of human rights bodies. There remains an interesting gap in the debate, however: while human rights bodies may be referencing international humanitarian law, what are they doing with it? To what extent are they interpreting its protections under a human rights framework? Are they performing substantive or precedential analysis of IHL? This article addresses one measure of that gap by comprehensively examining the work of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) as it relates to the interpretation of international humanitarian law. This article finds that the CRC has incorporated the corpus of IHL into the Children\u27s Convention and argues that it has an important role to play in interpreting international humanitarian law. The Children\u27s Convention is the only core international human rights treaty that discusses humanitarian law explicitly and has an interpretive body to monitor its implementation. As a result, the CRC is the only human rights treaty body with a substantial existing humanitarian law jurisprudence. Further, the CRC considers reports from States under the Optional Protocol on Children in Armed Conflict, which recalls in its preamble the obligation of States parties “to abide by the provisions of international humanitarian law.” These features suggest that the CRC has unique institutional potential to interpret humanitarian law. Yet while the CRC offers analysis of IHL, its analysis is implicit. It is possible, by assembling various pronouncements in the Concluding Observations, to find examples of States parties’ obligations under IHL as they relate to respect for and protection of children. Nonetheless, the Committee’s structure and mandate prevent it from performing fact-specific and potentially precedential analysis. Still, we argue that the Committee may be able to modify slightly the format of its Concluding Observations in order to provide more explicit links from IHL to the Convention. Moreover, through its consistent pronouncements as to certain mandatory protections for children in situations of armed conflict, the Committee may be developing and solidifying norms of customary international humanitarian law