Armed conflicts and the environment: The International Law Commission’s new draft principles

Abstract

The International Law Commission’s work on the protection of the environment in relation to armed conflicts has produced 28 draft principles with commentaries, which the Commission adopted in first reading in 2019. The article gives an overview of what the Commission has accomplished so far, the choices it has made and some of the challenges that have been encountered. The article discusses four general aspects that characterize the topic: the temporal approach, the interplay of several areas of international law, the reliance on the enhanced understanding of the environmental impacts of armed conflicts and the normative nature of the draft principles.