As the events of the past year were by no means without impact for various fields of public international law, the section “Current Developments” could be filled with an exuberant amount of short analyses. Nevertheless, one of the predominating and most passionately perceived topics was the Arab Spring. Therefore Marie-José Domestici Met analyses the role of R2P during the Arab Spring in her article “Protecting in Libya on Behalf of the Internal Community … and in the Name of Humanity?” Her article is the third and last part in a series under the global title “Humanitarian Action – A Scope for the Responsibility to Protect?” which began in 2009. Although the future developments in the Arab world, especially in Syria are difficult to foresee, this article takes stock of some trends.
With the death of Osama bin Laden another question rising high again in public debate is the legality of targeted killings. Starting from the recent discussion about the regulation of combat drones in current conflicts Sebastian Wuschka claims in his article “The Use of Combat Drones in Current Conflicts – A Legal Issue or a Political Problem?” that, contrarily to misinterpretations in the media the legal framework regarding today’s drone systems is settled. He first provides an assessment of unmanned combat drones as a new technology from the perspective of international humanitarian law to then proceed to the vital point of the legality of targeted killings with remotely operated drones. Further, he discusses the preconditions for applicability of humanitarian law and human rights law to such operations. In conclusion, the author holds the view that the legal evaluation of drone killings depends on the execution of each specific strike. He argues that assuming that targeted killings with drones will generally only be legal under the law of armed conflict, states might be further tempted to label their fights against terrorism as ‘war’. Wuschka is the winner of our Student Essay Competition which takes place every spring/summer. We invite all interested students to have a look on our homepage www.gojil.eu for further information.
Despite the abundance of current issues, most of this issue is dedicated to an event in the future: In 2013, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia will finally close its doors. This raises questions about whether there is an ICTY legacy; if so what does it contain? That is the topic of our second GoJIL:Focus under the headline “The Legacy of the ICTY”.
Editorial (extract)

Articles
The Legal Status of the Holy See
Cedric Ryngaert
Current Developments in International Law
Protecting in Libya on Behalf of the International Community
Marie-José Domestici-Met
The Use of Combat Drones in Current Conflicts – A Legal Issue or a Political Problem?
Sebastian Wuschka
GoJIL: Focus
Completing the ICTY Project Without Sacrificing its Main Goals. Security Council Resolution 1966 – A Good Decision?
Donald Riznik
The International Residual Mechanism and the Legacy of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda
Gabrielle McIntyre
Tadic Revisited: Some Critical Comments on the Legacy and the Legitimacy of the ICTY
Mia Swart
The Legacy of the ICTY as Seen Through Some of its Actors and Observers
Frédéric Mégret
The ICTY Legacy: A Defense Counsel’s Perspective
Michael G. Karnavas
The Winding Down of the ICTY: The Impact of the Completion Strategy and the Residual Mechanism on Victims
Giovanna Maria Frisso