The Leuven Manual is the authoritative, comprehensive overview of the rules that are to be followed in peace operations conducted by the United Nations, the European Union, NATO, the African Union and other organisations, with detailed commentary on best practice in relation to those rules. Topics covered include human rights, humanitarian law, gender aspects, the use of force and detention by peacekeepers, the protection of civilians, and the relevance of the laws of the host State. The international group of expert authors includes leading academics, together with military officers and policy officials with practical experience in contemporary peace operations, supported in an individual capacity by input from experts working for the UN, the African Union, NATO, and the International Committee of the Red Cross. This volume is intended to be of assistance to states and international organisations involved in the planning and conduct of peace operations, and practitioners and academia.

Tallinn Manual 2.0 expands on the highly influential first edition by extending its coverage of the international law governing cyber operations to peacetime legal regimes. The product of a three-year follow-on project by a new group of twenty renowned international law experts, it addresses such topics as sovereignty, state responsibility, human rights, and the law of air, space, and the sea. Tallinn Manual 2.0 identifies 154 'black letter' rules governing cyber operations and provides extensive commentary on each rule. Although Tallinn Manual 2.0 represents the views of the experts in their personal capacity, the project benefitted from the unofficial input of many states and over fifty peer reviewers.

The result of a three-year project, this manual addresses the entire spectrum of international legal issues raised by cyber warfare.

The legal position of visiting forces transcends domestic and international law and is of growing importance in our increasingly globalized and insecure world. 'In area' and 'out of area' operations, both for the purpose of establishing and maintaining peace and in connection with the conduct of other military operations and training, are likely to become more frequent for a variety of reasons. Finding where the applicable law places the balance between the interests, sensitivities and needs of the host state and the requirements, often practical in nature, of the visiting force is a key objective in ensuring that the relationship between hosts and 'guests' is and remains harmonious. All of this must be achieved in an increasingly complex legal environment. This fully updated second edition of The Handbook of the Law of Visiting Forces addresses the issues surrounding visiting forces and provides a full overview of the legal framework in which they operate. Through an analysis of jurisprudence and historical developments, it offers a comparative commentary to the UN, NATO, and other SOFA rules. The Handbook then continues its analysis through cases studies of visiting forces in key countries, including a fully updated chapter on Afghanistan that considers the various stages of the conflict, before offering conclusions on the current state of the law and its likely future development.

A growing number of states use private military and security companies (PMSCs) for a variety of tasks, which were traditionally fulfilled by soldiers. This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the law that applies to PMSCs active in situations of armed conflict, focusing on international humanitarian law. It examines the limits in international law on how states may use private actors, taking the debate beyond the question of whether PMSCs are mercenaries. The authors delve into issues such as how PMSCs are bound by humanitarian law, whether their staff are civilians or combatants, and how the use of force in self-defence relates to direct participation in hostilities, a key issue for an industry that operates by exploiting the right to use force in self-defence. Throughout, the authors identify how existing legal obligations, including under state and individual criminal responsibility should play a role in the regulation of the industry.

This book examines to what extent the right of self-defence, as laid down in Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, permits States to launch military operations against other States. In particular, it focuses on the occurrence of an 'armed attack' - the crucial trigger for the activation of this right. In light of the developments since 9/11, the author analyses relevant physical and verbal customary practice, ranging from the 1974 Definition of Aggression to recent incidents such as the 2001 US intervention in Afghanistan and the 2006 Israeli intervention in Lebanon. The notion of 'armed attack' is examined from a threefold perspective. What acts can be regarded as an 'armed attack'? When can an 'armed attack' be considered to take place? And from whom must an 'armed attack' emanate? By way of conclusion, the different findings are brought together in a draft 'Definition of Armed Attack'.

This volume of the Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law takes a close look at the role of so-called “expert manuals” in the interpretation and development of the international law of armed conflict and connected branches of international law relating to military operations. While these manuals can and do play an undoubtedly useful role, their proliferation raises a number of questions. What degree of authority do they have and how much weight should be given to the views expressed in them? What is the methodology they employ and how effective is it in ensuring an as objective and impartial interpretation of the law as possible? What is their place in the doctrine of sources? While there is already a considerable body of literature addressing these and other relevant questions, this volume aims to contribute further to this discussion with contributions by three experts involved in one or more of these manuals in one capacity or another. Alongside these three contributions on this year’s special theme, the second part of the book comprises three chapters that address timely and relevant issues of International Humanitarian Law. These range from starvation as a method of warfare, to emerging technologies of warfare, and also includes reflections on humanitarian assistance. Lastly, the volume concludes with the Year in Review, describing the most important armed conflict-related events and legal developments that took place in 2020. The Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law is a leading annual publication devoted to the study of international humanitarian law. It provides a truly international forum for high-quality, peer-reviewed academic articles focusing on this crucial branch of international law. Distinguished by contemporary relevance, the Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law bridges the gap between theory and practice and serves as a useful reference tool for scholars, practitioners, military personnel, civil servants, diplomats, human rights workers and students.