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This issue of the Journal contains the presentations of the launch of the 4th edition of the Rome Statute Article-by-Article Commentary published in 2022 by C.H. Beck in cooperation with Hart and Nomos publishers. The launch which was generously organized by Leiden University at its impressive The Hague Campus on 22 March 2023 has been recorded and the video is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6GLs8eIgxk.
I am deeply grateful to Judges Hofmanski, Flores Liera, and Trendafilova as well as to Kate Gibson who have not only presented their views at the above launch but also took it upon themselves to prepare and submit a written version to be published in this issue of the Journal. At the same time, I deeply regret that Judge Mindua and Deputy Prosecutor Mandiaye Niang, while present at the launch, have not been able to submit a written, publishable version. I also regret that Yuriy Belousov, Head of the War Crimes Unit of the Ukrainian Prosecutor General, had to drop out at the very last minute from the event.
The purpose of the event will be explained in more detail by my colleague and friend Carsten Stahn in the following pages. Thus, it suffices to state here that the core idea was to receive critical input from leading practitioners with regard to the value and quality of the Commentary under the general them of the contribution, if any, of scholarship to the development of international criminal law (‘ICL’). Thus, the Commentary was, in a way, taken as an example of an academic publication to explore the broader question of the relationship between scholarship and practice in the discrete area of ICL. It should be noted though that we did not ask for elaborated academic contributions but very practical commentaries and insight from the practitioners. There is of course an academic side to the debate, as not only demonstrated by Carsten’s reflections but also by Joseph Powderly’s especially commissioned piece on the assessment of commentaries in a (neoliberal) academic context.
Well, finally the current edition of the Commentary is available online (either via Hart/Bloomsbury https://www.bloomsburycollections.com/monograph?docid=b-9781509944064 or via C.H. Beck https://www.beck-elibrary.de/10.17104/9783406779268/rome-statute-of-the-international-criminal-court?hitid=00&search-click) and as an e-book (https://www.beck-shop.de/ambos-rome-statute-of-international-criminal-court/product/35859376); and the previous third edition is now in open access (https://www.department-ambos.uni-goettingen.de/data/documents/Veroeffentlichungen/Triffterer_Ambos_Rome_Statute_Commentary_3rd_ed_2016.pdf). Thus, we can witness also improvements on that front. Of course, there is still much more work to do, updating more regularly, perhaps thinking of an online version, bringing in other (post-colonial) views and authors, establishing an editorial board etc. There are many ideas, let us try to implement them!
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*Kai Ambos, Göttingen/The Hague, Editor-in-Chief of the Journal. E-mail: kambos@gwdg.de.
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Ambos, K. Preface. Crim Law Forum 34, 421–422 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10609-023-09473-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10609-023-09473-9