• UN Headquarters

Seminar on Protection of the Environment in Relation to Armed Conflict

  • Jointly organized by the Mission of Finland, the Law Interest Group of the Environmental Peacebuilding Association, UN Environment, Lund University, and the Environmental Law Institute

  • Sponsored by the Permanent Missions of Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden

Background

Responding to the proposal of the UN Environment Programme, the International Law Commission began the work on the topic of the “Protection of the environment in relation to armed conflict” in 2013. The words “in relation to” indicate that the temporal scope of the topic is not limited to during armed conflict, but covers the whole conflict cycle: before, during, and after an armed conflict. The Commission has so far provisionally adopted 18 draft principles, which address questions of environmental protection in all three phases. This year, three new draft principles relative to situations of occupation were provisionally adopted by the Drafting Committee. The Commission intends to bring the work on the topic to conclusion in first reading in 2019.

Purpose of the seminar

Jointly organized by the Mission of Finland, the Law Interest Group of the Environmental Peacebuilding Association, UN Environment, Lund University, and the Environmental Law Institute, the seminar will discuss questions that are of relevance to the topic, including the next report, which would be the last one before the first reading. The Commission has agreed that the report on the topic would address:

  • certain questions related to the protection of the environment in non-international armed conflicts, including how the international rules and practices concerning natural resources may enhance the protection of the environment during and after such armed conflicts;

  • certain questions related to the responsibility and liability for environmental harm in relation to armed conflicts; and

  • issues related to the consolidation of a complete set of draft principles will have to be considered.

This one-day seminar will be held at the UN Headquarters in New York in conference room 8 from 10 am to 18 pm. It is open to experts and UN (Sixth Committee) delegates.

Mr. Dustin A. Lewis, Senior Researcher at the Harvard Law School Program on International Law and Armed Conflict, will speak on “International Humanitarian Law and Occupation” during the session on “Environmental Issues in Occupation.”

Event announcement [PDF link].

Image credit: UN Photo/John Isaac [link].