Article

Protection of the environment during armed conflicts : an appraisal of the ILC's work

Stavros-Evdokimos Pantazopoulos

• Questions of international law, zoom-in, December 2016, p. 7-26

English

Being responsive to the devastating effects that armed conflicts cause on the environment, the International Law Commission (ILC) has recently taken on board the issue of the protection of the environment in relation to armed conflicts. Special Rapporteur Marie Jacobsson has already submitted three reports addressing the protection of the environment by reference to each relevant stage. Against this background, the author first provides certain remarks regarding two general themes permeating the whole topic, namely the temporal approach chosen by the Special Rapporteur and the distinction between different types of armed conflict. Then, he examines the draft principles that have been provisionally adopted by the ILC regarding the in bello phase, with particular emphasis placed to their relationship with existing international law. Subsequently, he addresses the issue of the final form of the text and then offers certain concluding thoughts.

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