FOREWORD

The year 2004 ended with a tragedy. A vast region of Asia has been hit by an appalling and deadly tsunami. 250,000 persons have probably been killed; millions of others have lost their relatives and/or all their belongings. Pain and sorrow are considerable. At the time being, servicemembers, NGOs and other volunteers from all over the world try to help the disaster-stricken populations.

This review is dedicated to the millions of victims of this disaster and to the thousands of people who went to the victims’ assistance to try to give them comfort and new hope.

This part deals with several aspects of international law and international humanitarian law. Dr. Roberta Arnold, legal adviser to the Swiss Armed Forces Staff and correspondent of the Review for Military Law and the Law of War in Bern, analyses the position, under the humanitarian conventions of the Red Cross and the additional protocols, of the NGOs’ workers during peace operations. The French military doctor, Eric Darre and his colleague military veterinary surgeon, Emmanuel Dumas, describe the protection enjoyed by veterinary surgeons within the armed forces deployed in an armed conflict. The Norwegian General Public Prosecutor before a court-martial and Vice- President of the International Society for Military Law and the Law of War, Arne Willy Dahl, addresses the legal status of the armed opponents during non-international armed conflicts.

The international measures taken against terrorism and the American and British operation in Iraq are the second main topic of this part. Frederik Naert, doctoral student at the KULeuven and legal adviser to the Directorate General Legal Support and Mediation of the Belgian Ministry of Defence, comments on the international measures taken against terrorism after the 9/ 11 attacks in New York. He is also one of the writers, along with the (deputy) legal advisers Jos Vergauwen, Fons Vanheusden and Isabelle Heyndrickx, of a contribution commenting on several legal aspects of the two wars against Iraq, also included in this part. Finally Mr. Stanislas Horvat, lawyer in Brussels, Administrator of the Military Law and the Law of War and Centre Director of the Publications of the International Society for Military Law and the Law of War, comments on the judgement delivered on the 14th of December 2004 by the England and Wales High Court of Justice on claims of relatives of six Iraqi killed by the British servicemembers or who died in a British prison in Iraq.

The review ends with a series of reviews of recently published books.