I would like to wish our readers a very Happy New Year! One cannot but also wish the world a 2025 that is more peaceful than 2024. Unfortunately, armed conflict continued to rage in many parts of the world and, sadly, the hope expressed in my Happy New Year post of a year ago that 2024 would bring peace and comfort to the many in need of them proved to be in vain.
We published some blog statistics a few months ago showing the numbers of submissions we received and the numbers we accepted. What those statistics do not show was the very diverse range of topics which those blogposts cover. However, as was the case in 2022 (when the list of most read posts was dominated by the Russia-Ukraine war) and 2020 (when COVID related posts were at the top of the list) one thing has attracted the attention of our readers in 2024, and perhaps unsurprisingly, it is the tragic conflict in Gaza! Seventeen of the posts in our list of twenty most read posts in 2024 relate to legal issues arising from Israel’s military action in Gaza (and elsewhere in the middle east). These post cover issues arising from the law relating to the use of force (the jus ad bellum), international humanitarian law, the law and procedure of the International Court of Justice, the prohibition of genocide etc. Many thanks to our readers for turning to us for analysis of these and other issues, and to all those who submitted posts this year.
As I have reminded readers in previous years, this list contains those post which were viewed the most by readers in the year being surveyed (2024), even though some of them were published in previous years. This is why you will see some posts published in 2023 in the list. Indeed the No. 2 most read post in 2024 was the No. 1 most read post in 2023!
On a more personal note, this is my last post written as one of the editors of this blog. The blog started in December 2008 with me as the editor and it has been a huge privilege to work on the blog since then. However, after sixteen years as editor, the time has come to pass on the baton to others. I consider my work on this blog to have been one of the most important and useful things I have so far done as an international lawyer.
