The Italian Yearbook of International Law aims at making accessible to the English speaking public the Italian contribution to the practice and literature of international law. Volume XII (2002) is organised in three main sections. The first contains doctrinal contributions including articles on the historical roots of the doctrine of just war, the legacy of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention thirty years after its adoption, the issue of compensation for victims of violations of the law of war, the extraterritoriality of the European Convention on Human Rights, and on the effects of terrorism on asylum law. This section includes also surveys on the activity of international tribunals and organizations (WTO, Law of the Sea Tribunal, International Law Commission, and European Court of Human Rights) with a special focus on the ICJ case law on territorial and boundary disputes. The second section covers the Italian practice in the areas of 1. judicial decisions (including important decisions, such as the Marković judgement on the NATO bombing of the Yugoslav television during the 1999 war in Kosovo); 2. diplomatic and parliamentary practice (such as the Italian most recent views relating to the ongoing debate on the reform of the United Nations); 3. treaty practice; and 4. national legislation (including the new legislation on immigration and treatment of aliens and the law on co-operation with the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda). The third section contains a systematic bibliographical index of Italian literature in the field of international law and reviews of recent books. The volume ends with an analytical index for ready consultation that includes the main judicial cases and legal instruments cited throughout the Yearbook.