The Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law is excited to announce big plans for our May 2018 issue. This upcoming issue will be devoted to publishing content based on The Second Israel Defense Forces International Conference on the Law of Armed Conflict, which took place from April 25-27, 2017 in Tel Aviv. The conference hosted over 100 participants from over 24 countries and organizations, including Military Advocate Generals and other high ranking legal officials from different countries and international organizations, as well as world-renowned academics in the field of LOAC.
This special issue will provide exciting and crucial insight into recent developments in the law of armed conflict. The Conference consisted of a Keynote Address by Professor Emeritus Yoram Dinstein of Tel Aviv University on the topic of the Law of Armed Conflict over the Past Half Century: Confusions, Constraints and Challenges, and proceeded with panels on the Evolution of LOAC, Contemporary Issues in Proportionality, and Contemporary Issues in the Targeting of Persons. In addition, the Head of the IDF Operations Directorate, a Major-General, provided insights into his experience with ground maneuvers in urban areas, which laid the groundwork for a special panel on LOAC Issues in Ground Operations. One day of the conference was dedicated to a field trip to the Lebanon and Syria borders, with intelligence and legal briefings on the different conflicts in those areas. The conference ended with a workshop session, where participants discussed legal solutions to practical scenarios based on the topics discussed during the conference.
Our publications in the May 2018 issue of VJTL will be based on these panels and other content discussed at the Conference, and will be authored by Panelists and other participants. This is an exciting and rare opportunity to hear from senior legal advisers of different states and other experts in LOAC about their positions, views, and practical solutions to contemporary dilemmas, as well as to hear how the application of LOAC finds expression in some of the most complicated armed conflicts ongoing today.
To find out more about the Conference, please visit their website here.