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6 J. Int'l Human. Legal Stud. 201 (2015)
If You Break It, Do You Own It

handle is hein.journals/jihuleg6 and id is 207 raw text is: 


            JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LEGAL
                                                                   lU MANTIARrAN
 BRILL                    STUDIES 6 (2015) 201-246                 LEGALSTUDIES
NIJHOFF                                                            brili.com/ihls



If you Break it, do you own it?
Legal Consequences of Environmental Harm from Military Activities

        Dinah Shelton
     Manatt/Ahn Professor of International Law (emeritus), The George Washington
     University Law School
        dshelton@law.gwu.edu

        Isabelle Cutting
     J.D., The George Washington University Law School, B.A., Cornell University
        ipcutting@law.gwu.edu



        Abstract

This article examines the extent to which international legal obligations aimed at pro-
tecting the environment apply to military activities in peacetime and during armed
conflict. The discussion draws on international environmental law, human rights law,
the law of armed conflict, and the law of State responsibility in evaluating the extent to
which States have a duty to prevent or mitigate environmental harm and remediate or
compensate for any such damage caused by their military activities. The article also
examines international law on liability for the injurious consequences of lawful activi-
ties, to assess whether this equitable doctrine supports shifting the clean-up costs of
environmental harm to the acting State even when there is no breach of international
law. The article concludes that international law requires measures be taken to prevent
environmental harm and could support a claim for remediation or compensation
where norms of international law have been breached. It also suggests the need
to develop specific rules in peace treaties and status of forces or bases agreements, to
address the consequences of environmental harm resulting from military activities.



        Keywords

Environment - polluter pays - human rights - state responsibility - liability - armed
conflict - status of forces - occupation


( KONINKLIJKE BRILL NV, LEIDEN, 2016 1 DOI 10.1163/18781527-00602002

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