UN Lawyers Present Revised Post-Conflict Environmental Protection Principles

Aug 31, 2016 | Doug Weir
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What should parties to a conflict and international organisations do to help protect the environment and those who depend on it from the effects of war? Nine new principles proposed by the UN’s International Law Commission (ILC) seek to answer this question by distilling existing law and practice on everything from information sharing and the rights of indigenous peoples to tackling the toxic remnants of war. 

The principles are contained in the third report by the ILC's Special Rapporteur on PERAC Dr Marie Jacobsson. The report and its draft principles were debated by members of the ILC over the summer. The report contained nine draft principles, seven of which related to post-conflict obligations. The ILC meeting during July and August was an opportunity for members to comment on the proposed principles and for agreement to be reached on whether they should be forwarded to a drafting committee for further refinement. In the end, and despite some objections, all nine principles were forwarded. The committee then revised the original draft principles based on the plenary debate. The revised draft principles will be submitted with the ILC’s 2016 report for debate at the UN General Assembly’s Sixth Committee this autumn.