Exeter Law School academics join board of directors of professional association

Two members of the Exeter Centre for International Law, Dr Agnieszka Jachec-Neale and Dr Aurel Sari, have joined the Board of Directors of the International Society for Military Law and the Law of War.

The International Society is an international professional association established in 1956 to promote the study and dissemination of international humanitarian law, military law, the law of peace operations and related areas of law. The Society counts approximately 900 members worldwide, many of whom practice in this field as military and civilian legal advisors, judges or prosecutors.

The International Society and Exeter Centre for International Law enjoy a close working relationship. In 2016, the Society and the Centre hosted a highly successful conference on international operational law at Exeter. In 2017, the Centre supported the International Society, together with the University of Melbourne, in hosting another conference in the city of Bruges in Belgium. The University of Exeter was also one of sixteen institutions and organisations that supported the preparation of the Leuven Manual on the International Law of Peace Operations published under the auspices of the Society.

Building on this collaboration, Dr Jachec-Neale and Dr Sari were elected to the Society’s Board of Directors at its 21st Congress held in Lisbon on 15-19 May 2018.

The Congress attracted more than 150 participants from more than 40 countries and organizations. Dr Jachec-Neale convened and chaired two thematic sessions at the event in her capacity as President of the Society’s International Humanitarian Law Committee. One of the panels was dedicated to the applicability of international humanitarian law to peace operations and featured Dr Tristan Ferraro (ICRC) and Dr Marten Zwanenburg (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Netherlands). The second panel focused on future warfare, including on the use of explosive weapons in urban warfare, human enhancement on the battlefield settings and the role of the media. Dr Sari gave a presentation on accountability and responsibility in peace operations as part of a panel chaired by Steven Hill (Office of Legal Affairs, NATO HQ)