The Environment: State Sovereignty, Human Rights, and Armed Conflict

29 Pages Posted: 14 Oct 2011 Last revised: 6 Jun 2012

Date Written: May 14, 2009

Abstract

International law relating to the environment has developed considerably during recent times, and considerations of state sovereignty can no longer stand in the way of internationally restrictions applying to conduct harmful to the natural environment, even in cases where the harmful conduct and its immediate impact are occur within the national borders of a single State. There is growing support for classifying protection of the environment as a matter of human rights law; if for no other reason, then simply because enforcement mechanisms of international human rights law is already highly developed.

Emphasis in international environmental law is on civil liability. Criminal responsibility for conduct harmful to the environment is to a large extent confined to the domain of international humanitarian law, and more in particular to the rules of the law and customs that apply to international armed conflicts. Here, the emphasis is on individual criminal liability. Current concerns with regard to climate change and global warming might in the near future culminate in more emphatic and effective punitive procedures for the protection of the natural environment.

In developing the above themes, special mention is made of jurisprudence of the International Court of Justice of the 1990’s relating to the testing of nuclear weapons and its impact on the natural environment.

Suggested Citation

Van der Vyver, Johan, The Environment: State Sovereignty, Human Rights, and Armed Conflict (May 14, 2009). Emory International Law Review, Vol. 23, No. 1, p. 85, 2009, Emory Public Law Research Paper No. 11-173, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1944200

Johan Van der Vyver (Contact Author)

Emory University School of Law ( email )

1301 Clifton Road
Atlanta, GA 30322
United States

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