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International humanitarian law and the protection of the environment in time of armed conflict

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 January 2010

Extract

The condition of our planet today is, to say the least, a cause for great concern. As recently stated by Ms. Gro Harlem Brundtland, Prime Minister of Norway and Chairman of the World Commission on Environment and Development: “We are living in an historic transitional period in which awareness of the conflict between human activities and environmental constraints is literally exploding”. A decisive battle is now under way to preserve a truly endangered planet from the threat of extinction.

Type
Protection of the Environment in Time of Armed Conflict
Copyright
Copyright © International Committee of the Red Cross 1992

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References

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— Regional conventions:

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6 — International treaties and conventions:

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11 Ibidem.

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16 ibid., CDDH/III/SR 13–40 of 15 December 1975, no. 10.

17 Commentary on the Additional Protocols of 8 June 1977. to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, Sandoz, Y., Swinarski, C., Zimmermann, B., eds., ICRC, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Geneva, 1987, pp. 414415 Google Scholar, paras. 1450–1451, and pp. 416–417, para. 1454.

18 Arrassen, M., Conduite des hostilites — droit des conflits armés et désarmement (1983 thesis), Bruylant, Brussels, 1986, p. 297 Google Scholar; Commentary on the Additional Protocols, op.cit., p. 417, note 117.Google Scholar

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21 Napalm and other incendiary weapons and all aspects of their possible use, Report of the Secretary-General, United Nations, New York, 1973, p. 55, para. 189.Google Scholar

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27 Sandoz, Y., op.cit., p. 153.Google Scholar Regarding the legal instruments which exist outside of the framework of international humanitarian law and apply to the Iran-Iraq war, see David, E., op.cit., p. 165 Google Scholar, concerning a 1983–1984 report of experts on the subject, the Kuwait Regional Convention for Cooperation on the Protection of the Marine Environment from Pollution (24 April 1978) and the attitude adopted by the UN Security Council in its resolution 540.

28 Sandoz, Y., op.cit., p. 154 Google Scholar; Herczegh, G., op.cit., p. 733.Google Scholar

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