Suchergebnisse

The law of war historically paid scant attention to the protection of the environment. Its main focus was to regulate hostilities so as protect combatants from unnecessary injury. Since World War II, it has turned to the protection of the civilian population and individual civilians. It does not follow that the environment did not receive any protection at all. In as much as international humanitarian law places constraints on the use of means and methods of warfare, the environment was indirectly protected. Thus, the provisions of the Hague or the Geneva Conventions, through the protection of civilian property and objects, offer indirect protection of the environment. Similarly, the banning of weapons of mass destruction, such as biological and chemical weapons, or the restraints on activities related to nuclear warfare, such as the testing of nuclear weapons, also ultimately limit potential damage to the environment caused by armed conflicts.

Over the last two decades, the protection of the environment has become a necessity so widely recognized that environmental concerns have pervaded most fields of international law, including the international law of human rights. In 1976 the European Commission of Human Rights dismissed an application on the ground that "no right to nature conservation [was] as such included among the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Convention and in particular by Arts 2, 3, or 5." In 1993, however, the Commission found that the erection and operation of a waste and water treatment station near the domicile of the applicant was such a nuisance as to amount to a violation of her right to a private life. This development in the case law of the European Commission reflects a growing awareness of the links between protection of human rights and protection of the environment.