Protection of environment in armed conflicts

Abstract

The paper analyzes the highly topical issue of environmental protection in armed conflicts which constitutes the general interest of the security of the entire international community. The International Court of Justice has on several occasions stressed the need of forming special rules in this area, and the collection of rules has been initiated by the International Law Commission. The specificity of this issue is that it is a combination of the norms of international humanitarian law, environmental law, and, in part, the issues of human rights. In addition to this, the modern international community has seen a great development of means of warfare which implies that the need to regulate the issue of environmental protection in armed conflict is of primary interest. The paper analyzes the legal regulations in this field, the practice of courts and arbitration, as well as the work of the International Law Commission. The survey features current national standards and newly introduced development policies. The conclusion is that the current state standards that are directly related to the protection of the environment are unsatisfactory and that it is necessary to do much more to improve environmental protection in armed conflicts. It is particularly harmful that a number of very influential countries have repeatedly insisted on restricting the scope of some of the essential provisions of the Conventions relating to the protection of the environment in armed conflict. The reason was that they wanted to ensure that nuclear weapons can be applied in exceptional circumstances. Such an attitude of the leading countries within the international community undermines the establishment of legal provisions on environmental protection in armed conflicts.