Update to the San Remo Manual

The 1994 San Remo Manual on International Law Applicable to Armed Conflicts at Sea set out the body of law which applied to govern actions taken by States at sea during armed conflict.

It has become a massively influential text with a longstanding influence on State practice (being cited and often in large part reproduced in many State law of armed conflict manuals). However, numerous issues with the approach taken in the 1994 text have long since been acknowledged. Certain ambiguities and uncertainties were left unresolved, and the text of the manual was at times self-contradictory or unclear. Further, in the 30 years since the original edition, the broader body of international humanitarian law has continued to develop and the influence of this on the law of naval warfare needs to be considered. RUMLAE is one of the research teams involved in the effort to produce a second edition of this valuable text, which will seek to address many of these outstanding uncertainties with the original manual. The project is in its early stages and currently consultations are underway to identify the main areas of revision and development needed.