You now have in your hands the Review 2014. As new director and new editor-in-chief we would like to thank you for your continued loyalty and support.

We are confident that throughout recent years you have taken note of the efforts of the board of directors and the editorial board to make the Military Law and the Law of War Review a high quality, multilingual journal of international standing. Every submission is screened by the editorial board and undergoes a double ‘peer review’ process by specialists in the relevant field(s). The author is subsequently guided through the editorial process leading up to the definitive version of the article. A double edit is carried out before the final result is presented to the discerning eye of the reader.

Dozens of volunteers are committed to completing this lengthy and labour-intensive process in order to ensure the quality of each and every volume. The process is very time-consuming, causing now and then delays in the publication of the journal, however this time is required to achieve the scientific standard you are entitled to expect.

The entire team of contributors is grateful for your sustained interest in our work. Your subscription encourages us to carry on our efforts. It is our hope that we may continue to count on your much-appreciated trust in the future.

What will you discover in the Review 2014?

The crisis in East Ukraine and Crimea was one of the key world events in 2014. We invited several authors to provide legal insights on this issue. In the first part of this Review Peter Olson examines the legality of Russia’s recourse to force in Crimea and takes a critical look at the legal arguments that can be derived from declarations by Russian officials. Mauro Mantovani and Daniel Rickenbacher describe the main arguments of Russia on the one hand and the West on the other hand to respectively justify and denounce the integration of Crimea in Russia. Thomas Grant explores the demands made by groups in Crimea for greater autonomy and unilateral secession from the Ukrainian State. Michael Bothe, finally, addresses the status of Crimea and the consequences thereof under international law, as well as the concomitant rights and duties of its inhabitants and third States.

Courts-martial are another topic featured in this Review. Leslie Esbrook considers the situation following military justice reforms in Turkey over the past couple of years, taking stock of the adopted measures in light of ideal standards of military justice. Nelson Atanga Ayamdoo tackles procedural problems of appeals by military personnel before the Ghanaian Supreme Court, after the Court’s judgment in the lieutenant Oduro case, which reviewed an appellate procedure that had lasted for over a decade.

The second part of the Review takes on yet another current subject, i.e. military operations abroad. Camilla Guldahl Cooper’s piece deals with the rules of engagement, their objectives, development and application in practice. Zsuzsanna Deen-Racsmány critically analyses measures taken by the UN to criminally prosecute personnel in peacekeeping operations. Aurel Sari demonstrates that although the European Court of Human Rights’ judgment in Jaloud v. Netherlands on the extraterritorial application of the ECHR during military operations takes a positive step with the introduction of the concept of “full command”, its expanded notion of “control” is a cause for concern.

Turning once more to the case law of the European Court of Human Rights, Bart van der Sloot discusses the extent to which Article 15 of the ECHR is invoked to claim a state of emergency and how this concept is being interpreted in an increasingly broad fashion in the fight against terrorism.

Following these articles, we would like to draw your attention to a number of noteworthy publications. At the end of both volumes of the Review you will find a description of each of these books.

We hope you have an enjoyable read!