A Defense Institute of International Legal Studies (DIILS) team recently traveled to Kazakhstan to conduct a seminar on Human Rights and the Law of Armed Conflict with members of Kazakhstan’s military.

For the first time in ISG’s engagement history with Japan, this iteration included a two-day train-the-trainer preparation, enabling five Japanese instructors from the JPC to join the ISG trainers in executing the course. Japanese partners taking a direct instructional role is a strong indicator of the efficacy of ISG’s capacity building efforts in Japan. The JPC indicated their intention to build on this success during the next course in July. Participants were encouraged by the Commandant of the Joint Staff College, Vice Admiral FUTAKAWA Tatsuya, during his graduation to “take home and share the knowledge and the skills they have acquired during the course and be a core personnel in the international missions.” Japan is looking for ways to increase its contribution to United Nations Peacekeeping.

Congratulations to ISG Europe Regional Program Lead Sandra O’Hern on her participation in an episode on the Air Force Judge Advocate General’s School Podcast. In this episode Lieutenant Colonel O’Hern joins Major Laura Quaco and Dr. Andy Akin for a conversation about Russian history and the relationship between Russia and Ukraine leading up to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Stay tuned for the next episode to hear the remainder of the conversation in which the host and guests discuss operations and international legal principles related to Russia and the conflict.

Dr. Celeste Gventer, Defense Security Cooperation University (DSCU) President, hosted a focus group March 10, 2023, on the future of Institutional Capacity Building (ICB).

ISG held a multinational staff officer course as part of Exercise Justified Accord 2023 (JA23) at the Humanitarian Peace Support School Headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. The course focused on African Union and United Nations peace keeping operations and offered instruction on humanitarian assistance principles and real world problem solving for situations such as Cholera outbreaks and the recent COVID-19 pandemic. The course included over 100 participants from 17 partner nations and is U.S. Africa Command's largest exercise in East Africa.

An ISG team recently had the pleasure of meeting with Polish Air Inspectorate partners, to include a  visit to the 2nd Tactical Air Wing at Krzesiny Air Base to learn more about current F-16 and future F-35 air operations. ISG looks forward to continued collaboration Poland as a key NATO partner and leader in regional air operations.