Alleged lethal sorcery in East Timor

A wide range of cultural and social perspectives exists on the concept of sudden and unexpected death. In countries, without a formal system of death investigation, sudden death is shrouded in mysticism often based on traditional belief systems. This cultural perspective on sudden death is often at variance with medical and forensic concepts and may include explanations such as sorcery, magic, and voodoo. In this case report, the postmortem findings in an alleged victim of lethal 'black magic', known as ema halo by the indigenous people of East Timor, is described. The alleged victim died suddenly in front of witnesses. At autopsy, marked dilation of a bicuspid aortic valve with annuloaortic ectasia and a sinus of Valsalva aneurysm was found after exhumation of the body. The findings mitigated the local belief in witchcraft and established a natural manner of death.     

The United Nations data privacy system and its limits

ABSTRACT

While the United Nations (UN) pioneered in recognizing the impact of modern technological developments on (data) privacy as far back as 1968, little has so far been achieved in terms of introducing a truly global data privacy framework. The present UN data privacy framework is by and large a mere patchwork of rules that exhibit a number of weaknesses. This weak structure of the present framework is a result of political and ideological controversies of the Cold War era. This article considers the extent to which the current UN data privacy system provides protection to data privacy and highlights its major limitations. It concludes that the discourse at the UN set in motion, particularly in the aftermath of the Snowden revelations, wields a potential to result in a major reform in the UN data privacy system.     

The Chapter VII Powers of the United Nations Security Council

Netherlands International Law Review -     

The United Nations,the United States,and the War on Terrorism

Since the moment the United Nations was created, the Americans have had certain expectations of it, which logically follow from their past.     

The Concluding Observations of United Nations Human Rights Treaty Bodies

The seven principal United Nations-sponsored human rights treatiesstipulate that States Parties submit periodic reports to therespective treaty monitoring bodies (or ‘committees’)¹on the implementation of their treaty obligations. Followingthe review of a report, the treaty body in question issues aset of ‘concluding observations’, containing itscollective assessment of the State's record and recommendationsfor enhanced implementation of the rights in question. Arguably,the issuance of concluding observations is the single most importantactivity of human rights treaty bodies. It provides an opportunityfor the delivery of an authoritative overview of the state ofhuman rights in a country and for the delivery of forms of advicewhich can stimulate systemic improvements. Its significanceis all the greater now that the only accounts of the reviewof periodic reports which appear in the annual reports of thetreaty bodies are the adopted concluding observations.² Thisarticle seeks to test key aspects of the quality of concludingobservations. The analysis is set within the framework of reviewof the development of the practice.     

Resisting United Nations Security Council Resolutions

Liverpool Law Review -     

The Relative Resilience of Property: First Possession and Order Without Law in East Timor

Much of the recent literature on customary property relations in sub‐Saharan Africa has highlighted underlying characteristics of negotiability and indeterminacy. Custom is prone to reinvention as resource claimants manipulate customary references across multiple forums for property legitimation and authority. This article focuses on the resilience of customary property relations in East Timor. Based on a study of customary authority in the village of Babulo, we conclude that traditional Timorese narratives of first possession, where land authority is claimed by groups that trace descent to a mythic first settler, have acted as adaptive and resilient focal points for the reproduction of customary property relations in historical circumstances of war, colonization, and occupation. While a finding of customary resilience is not new to postcolonial contexts, the relative novelty of our study lies in its structured explanation for resilience in circumstances of war and displacement, based on the social ordering capacity of first possession principles themselves. This explanation, which derives from focal point theories for cooperative property relations, also takes into account a number of limits on the ordering capacity of first possession principles, which support a conclusion of relative or constrained resilience, particularly in terms of contested interpretations of possessory authority in contemporary East Timor.     

The United Nations Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which came into force on 3 May 2008, marks the culmination of over five years of negotiations between States Parties and non-governmental organisations as to what constitute the human rights of and governmental obligations to individuals with disabilities. It differs from other Conventions in that, while it still sets out general rights, it also details the steps that should be taken to ensure equality of treatment. This column provides a general overview of the Convention, focusing in particular on Art 25 which sets out the right to health and Australia's obligations under the Convention.     

A variant of incaprettamento (ritual ligature strangulation) in East Timor

Incaprettamento is a ritualized form of ligature strangulation often associated with the Italian Mafia. The hallmarks include ligature strangulation and binding of the body in a highly stereotyped fashion. The bindings include tying the wrists and ankles together, with the body in the prone position (similar to "hogtying"), and an additional ligature encircling the neck and attached to the bindings of the extremities. The binding of the body may be performed after death is inflicted by ligature strangulation, or it may be associated with self-strangulation, as shown by the arrangement of ligatures and the position of the body. A case with great similarities to incaprettamento, in which the body was exhumed from a grave in East Timor, is described in detail. However, in addition to prone-position binding and a hyoid fracture, chopping wounds of a knee and blunt trauma to the posterior torso were found. The implication of these wounds is discussed in relation to incaprettamento.     

论联合国豁免的放弃

联合国组织在一定条件下放弃豁免,是《联合国特权与豁免公约》及有关国际法律文件明确规定的一项国际法律制度,这项制度美系到相美国际组织能否享有豁免以便履行职能和实现目的。同时也关系到与国际组织有关的其他各方,尤其是与国际组织交往的私人在国际组织一旦侵犯其权利的情况下能否得到救济。因此,国际组织放弃豁免是一项非常重要的国际法律制度。联合国豁免的放弃必须由其有权机关作出相应的意思表示。不论是民事行为,还是刑事行为,其豁免都是可以放弃的。联合国等国际组织放弃豁免的权利。同时也构成其必须履行的一项义务。