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Competing visions of Europe are threatening to tear the union apart
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Assad’s extortion fails to ease Syria’s financial crisis
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Will the ICJ Myanmar Ruling Help Bring Accountability for the Rohingya Crisis?
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What the ICJ Decision on Myanmar Means
24 January 2020
Champa Patel on the implications of the International Court of Justice’s decision to order protection for the Rohingya.2020-01-24-CB.jpg
Rohingya refugees watch ICJ proceedings at a restaurant in a refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh in December. Photo: Getty Images.
The decision by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that Myanmar should take all measures available to prevent acts of genocide against the persecuted Rohingya minority is truly ground-breaking. The case shows how small states can play an important role in upholding international law and holding other states accountable.
The Gambia, acting with the support of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, skilfully used Article IX of the Genocide Convention, which allows for a state party to the convention to pursue cases against another state party where it is felt there has been a dispute regarding the ‘interpretation, application or fulfilment’ of the convention.
Seventeen states have entered reservations against this specific provision but Myanmar is not one of them. It was on this basis that The Gambia was able to take its case to the ICJ. This exciting development expands the possibilities of international accountability at the state-to-state level.
But it should be noted that the current ruling is focused on provisional measures – the central case could still take years to conclude. There is still a long road ahead on the court determining whether the Myanmar authorities committed acts of genocide.
And, while the decision was unanimous and binding, the ICJ cannot enforce its ruling. Myanmar has shown itself resistant to international criticism and there is a real risk they will fail to comply.
One way forward, should Myanmar not respect the ruling, is that the UN Security Council could agree a resolution to compel action. However, it seems unlikely that China would ever vote for such a resolution, given its strong stance on non-intervention and its economic interests in the country.
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Pulling Out (from) All the Stops - Visiting all of NY's subway stops in record time
With 468 stops served by 26 lines, the New York subway system can make visitors
feel lucky when they successfully negotiate one planned trip in a day. Yet
these two New Yorkers, Chris Solarz and Matt Ferrisi, took on the task of
breaking a world record by visiting every stop in the system in less than 24 hours.
They used mathematics, especially graph theory, to narrow down the possible
routes to a manageable number and subdivided the problem to find the best
routes in smaller groups of stations. Then they paired their mathematical work
with practice runs and crucial observations (the next-to-last car stops closest to
the stairs) to shatter the world record by more than two hours!
Although Chris and Matt.s success may not have huge ramifications in other fields,
their work does have a lot in common with how people do modern mathematics
research
* They worked together, frequently using computers and often asking experts for
advice;
* They devoted considerable time and effort to meet their goal; and
* They continually refined their algorithm until arriving at a solution that was
nearly optimal.
Finally, they also experienced the same feeling that researchers do that despite all the hours and intense preparation, the project .felt more like fun than work.
For More Information: Math whizzes shoot to set record for traversing subway system,. Sergey Kadinsky and Rich Schapiro, New York Daily News, January 22, 2009.
Photo by Elizabeth Ferrisi.
Map New York Metropolitan Transit Authority.
The Mathematical Moments program promotes appreciation and understanding of the role mathematics plays in science, nature, technology, and human culture.
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Parallel threats of COVID-19, climate change, require 'brave, visionary and collaborative leadership': UN chief
And against the backdrop of threatened lives, crippled businesses and damaged economies, the UN chief warned the Petersberg Climate Dialogue in Berlin that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are also under threat.
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Internationalizing the Crisis
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Launch of the Website of the Online Survey on the Application of and Experience in the Use of Socio-Economic Considerations in Decision-Making on Living Modified Organisms
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Two new biosafety self-paced learning modules on public access to biosafety information and public participation in decision-making regarding LMOs are available in the new e-Learning Platform
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Visa's acquisition of Plaid throws up data reuse concerns
What happens when a service you shared your personal data with is acquired by a giant corporation?
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