International Law And The Status Of Forces Agreement

The legal position of visiting forces transcends domestic and international law and is of growing importance in our increasingly globalized and insecure world. 'In area' and 'out of area' operations, both for the purpose of establishing and maintaining peace and in connection with the conduct of other military operations and training, are likely to become more frequent for a variety of reasons. Finding where the applicable law places the balance between the interests, sensitivities and needs of the host state and the requirements, often practical in nature, of the visiting force is a key objective in ensuring that the relationship between hosts and 'guests' is and remains harmonious. All of this must be achieved in an increasingly complex legal environment. This fully updated second edition of The Handbook of the Law of Visiting Forces addresses the issues surrounding visiting forces and provides a full overview of the legal framework in which they operate. Through an analysis of jurisprudence and historical developments, it offers a comparative commentary to the UN, NATO, and other SOFA rules. The Handbook then continues its analysis through cases studies of visiting forces in key countries, including a fully updated chapter on Afghanistan that considers the various stages of the conflict , before offering conclusions on the current state of the law and its likely future development.

The stationing of foreign armed forces abroad in peacetime has been a constant and distinctive feature of the post-1945 bipolar world. This book is the first systematic study of the subject to look beyond the areas of criminal and civil jurisdiction to broader issues of international law arising out of the establishment and use of foreign military installations in time of peace. Implementation of basing agreements between states sending and states hosting foreign armed forces has resulted in a large body of state practice that includes such major international incidents as the U.S. air raid on Libya in 1986 and the U.S. intervention in Panama in 1989. This book assesses the future of foreign military installations against the background of the end of the Cold War, the unification of Germany, the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, and the emerging European security order.

Based on best-practice rules of global importance, this Handbook offers authoritative commentary and analysis of the international law of military operations, encompassing self-defence, peace operations, and other uses of force. Renowned international lawyers offer insight into the relevant principles and provisions.