As we write this editorial, armed conflicts continue to rage throughout the world encompassing all parts of the globe – including continuing or newly-revived conflicts in Ukraine, Israel, Yemen, Myanmar, Syria, and Libya, among others.1 As scholars, academics, and practitioners, we look to international law in hopes that it can mitigate, if not outright prevent, the brutalities of war. However, at times like these, it is understandable to feel a sense of despair that international law can only go so far to prevent such brutalities. Nevertheless, prevention is only part of what any legal system can achieve – identifying violations of the law, and ensuring accountability and enforcement is also a vital part of any dynamic legal system. Therefore, understanding the law, why it exists, how it operates in theory and in practice, and how it can be improved are all parts of the important role we play as scholars, teachers, and practitioners of international law.
This issue begins with an article by Juan-Pablo Pérez-León-Acevedo on ‘Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Committed by Non-State Armed Groups Against Women/Girls and lgbti+ Persons in Non-International Armed Conflicts: Peru’s Case’. From there, the rest of Volume 14(2) is dedicated to a symposium on the language of the law of armed conflict, with papers looking at the question from the perspective of international humanitarian law, legal theory, linguistics, and international relations.2
This issue also includes two review essays: Javier Tous reviews Jelena Aparac’s Business et droits de l’homme dans les conflits armés and Natia Kalandarishvili-Mueller reviews David Kretzmer and Yael Ronen’s The Occupation of Justice: The Supreme Court of Israel and the Occupied Territories.
Council of Foreign Relations, Global Conflict Tracker, https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/.
See further the editorial on the symposium, at 197.
