scholarly journals From Engines for Conflict into Engines for Sustainable Development: The Potential of International Law to Address Predatory Exploitation of Natural Resources in Situations of Internal Armed Conflict

2013 ◽  
Vol 82 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniëlla Dam-de Jong
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
International Law ◽  
Environmental Degradation ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Environmental Conservation ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Resource Exploitation ◽  
Internal Armed Conflict ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
The Cold War

Since the end of the Cold War, natural resources have proven an adequate replacement for external funding of armed conflicts. The prospects for parties to an armed conflict to gain ‘easy’ profits from resource exploitation encourage these parties to engage in predatory practices that are highly detrimental to environmental conservation. The environmental degradation caused by predatory resource exploitation by parties to an armed conflict also severely hampers efforts towards the post-conflict reconstruction of a State. Environmental degradation of land may spark new tensions in the fragile phase of post-conflict reconstruction. In addition, natural resources are an important engine to restart the economy of a war-torn State after the conflict has come to an end. If the resources are severely degraded or even exhausted as a consequence of their exploitation during armed conflict, it becomes even more difficult to kick-start the economy of a State emerging from conflict. This article argues that current international law is not sufficiently equipped to deal with these challenges. The existing regulatory framework is fragmented and imprecise. It is only through case specific responses under Security Council sanctions regimes that the challenges are currently addressed.

A price worth fighting for? Natural resources and conflict recurrence

2012 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 531-546 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siri Aas Rustad ◽  
Helga Malmin Binningsbø
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
Natural Resource ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Resource Distribution ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Resource Conflict ◽  
Resource Conflicts ◽  
Internal Armed Conflict ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Number Of Publications

While a number of publications show that natural resources are associated with internal armed conflict, surprisingly little research looks at how natural resources affect post-conflict peace. This article therefore investigates the relationship between natural resources and post-conflict peace by analyzing new data on natural resource conflicts. We argue that the effect of natural resources on peace depends on how a country’s natural resources can constitute a motive or opportunity for armed conflict. In particular, three mechanisms may link natural resources to conflict recurrence: disagreements over natural resource distribution may motivate rebellion; using natural resources as a funding source creates an opportunity for conflict; and natural resources may aggravate existing conflict, acting either as motivation or opportunity for rebellion, but through other mechanisms than distributional claims or funding. Our data code all internal armed conflicts between 1946 and 2006 according to the presence of these resource–conflict links. We claim such mechanisms increase the risk of conflict recurrence because access to natural resources is an especially valuable prize worth fighting for. We test our hypotheses using a piecewise exponential survival model and find that, bivariately, armed conflicts with any of these resource–conflict mechanisms are more likely to resume than non-resource conflicts. A multivariate analysis distinguishing between the three mechanisms reveals that this relationship is significant only for conflicts motivated by natural resource distribution issues. These findings are important for researchers and policymakers interested in overcoming the ‘curse’ associated with natural resources and suggest that the way forward lies in natural resource management policies carefully designed to address the specific resource–conflict links.

scholarly journals TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE: THE REINTEGRATION OF CHILD SOLDIERS THROUGH POST-CONFLICT METHODS OF JUSTICE

2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 474
Author(s):  
Ana Paula Barbosa-Fohrmann
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Child Soldiers ◽  
Secretary General ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Armed Groups ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Made In

<p>This paper examines the problematic of child soldiers, based on inter alia the strategy of research <br />and study of the United Nations Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for <br />Children and Armed Conflict and on the priorities of the Machel Study. Here, national and international <br />law will be applied on countries where children are recruited by armed groups. Concerning domestic <br />jurisdiction alternative or traditional methods of justice as well as formal legal methods will be <br />addressed. Specifically, this paper will focus on three main subjects: 1) the possibility of prosecution <br />and judgment of adolescents, who participated in armed conflicts; 2) prosecution and judgment of war lords <br />and 3) civil reparation proportional to the damage caused by an armed conflict. These three subjects will <br />be construed according to (traditional or alternative and formal) national and international law. Finally, <br />some recommendations will be made in order to improve the system of reintegration of child soldiers in <br />post-conflict countries.</p>

The Protection of the Environment in Armed Conflict: Legal Obligations in the Absence of Specific Rules

2013 ◽  
Vol 82 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dieter Fleck
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Natural Environment ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
General Rule ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Military Operations ◽  
Post Conflict

While a general rule of ‘eco-protection’ in armed conflict may be derived from the basic principles of distinction, proportionality, avoidance of unnecessary suffering and humanity, international humanitarian law provides little by way of more specific rules for the protection of the natural environment except for in extreme situations that can rarely be expected to occur. Nevertheless, opinio juris has changed since the adoption of pertinent instruments in 1977. This development needs to be balanced against a still prevailing general reluctance to accept specific ecological obligations and procedures in military operations. Thus a detailed evaluation of planning and decision-making processes appears necessary. Revisiting the San Remo Manual on International Law Applicable to Armed Conflicts at Sea and the ICRC Study on Customary International Humanitarian Law, this article argues that certain qualifications made in these documents relating to requirements of ‘imperative military necessity’ are to be assessed in the light of their specific implications and should be used with caution. Furthermore, it is suggested that pertinent consequences of the International Law Commission’s Draft Articles on the Effects of Armed Conflicts on Treaties deserve further study. To this end, interdisciplinary case studies should be conducted to support fact-oriented evaluations of military requirements, ecological assessments and political effects post-conflict, rather than insisting on thresholds for legal regulation that already appeared to be escapist decades ago and which may prove counter-productive in the years to come. New activities aimed at protecting the natural environment in armed conflict should focus on a reaffirmation of existing rules and their effective implementation.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kubo Mačák
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Research Methodology ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Normative Framework ◽  
Comprehensive Examination

This chapter introduces the central aim of this book: to provide a comprehensive examination of the notion, process, and effects of internationalization of armed conflicts in international law. It presents a brief research overview, outlining the scope of the enquiry, the research methodology, and the structure of the book. It then lays out the conceptual and normative framework for the rest of the book. To that end, it first justifies the need for the present study by confirming the continuing distinction between international and non-international armed conflicts in international law. Then, it puts forward a conception of internationalization that expresses the legal transformation from a non-international to an international armed conflict.

Of Rebels, Insurgents, and Belligerents

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tilman Rodenhäuser
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Laws Of War ◽  
Armed Group ◽  
State Practice

The first chapter opens the substantive analysis of the organization requirement for non-state parties to armed conflicts. First, it briefly examines why the laws of war have originally been state-focused, and shows how this state focus coined international law requirements of main characteristics of a party to an armed conflict. Second, it analyses how philosophers broadened the legal notion of ‘war’ as to include conflicts involving certain non-state entities. Subsequently, this chapter examines state practice to identify which qualities a non-state armed group needed to possess to obtain the ‘belligerent’ status. It also examines the question of which kind of entities could qualify as ‘insurgents’ or ‘rebels’.

Delivering water services during protracted armed conflicts: How development agencies can overcome barriers to collaboration with humanitarian actors

2019 ◽  
Vol 101 (912) ◽  
pp. 1067-1089
Author(s):  
Edoardo Borgomeo
Keyword(s):  
Service Delivery ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Contributing Factors ◽  
Emergency Relief ◽  
Organizational Goals ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Development Agencies ◽  
Sub Saharan

AbstractThis note discusses the challenges of water service delivery before, during and after protracted armed conflict, focusing on barriers that may impede successful transition from emergency to development interventions. The barriers are grouped according to three major contributing factors (three “C”s): culture (organizational goals and procedures), cash (financing practices) and capacity (know-how). By way of examples, the note explores ways in which development agencies can overcome these barriers during the three phases of a protracted armed conflict, using examples of World Bank projects and experiences in the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa. Before the crisis, development agencies need to work to prevent armed conflict. In a situation of active armed conflict or when conflict escalates, development agencies need to remain engaged as much as possible, as this will speed up post-conflict recovery. When conflict subsides, development agencies need to balance the relative effort placed on providing urgently needed emergency relief and water supply and sanitation services with the effort placed on re-establishing sector oversight roles and capacity of local institutions to oversee and manage service delivery in the long term.

New code for the protection of civilian population and property during armed conflict

1980 ◽  
Vol 20 (219) ◽  
pp. 287-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ionel Gloşcă
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
International Treaties ◽  
Civilian Population ◽  
State Activity ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Do So

One of the principles underlying international law applicable in armed conflicts is that no act of war is permitted against the civilian population, consisting, by definition, of persons who take no part in the hostilities.Until the holocaust of 1939–45, international law gave practically no real protection to the civilian population in the event of war, and was not even intended to do so since up to that time war was considered to be a State activity from which civilians remained aloof. There were, nonetheless, general principles and rules in various international treaties which, in one way or another, related also to the civilian population.

scholarly journals INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION DURING ARMED CONFLICT CASE STUDY: ISRAEL-LEBANON CONFLICT

2008 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 35
Author(s):  
Arie Afriansyah
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Environment Protection ◽  
International Environment ◽  
State Liability

AbstrakDuring the last decade many armed conflicts were occurred between nationsor states. From that situation initially people just have interests throughhuman who been victim more than environment destructions that had beenaffected. Furthermore since those environment defects have influencedthrough human living then triggered awareness toward worst effect of thewar. The author by this article does configure how by conflict between Israeland Lebanon (Hezbollah) have shaped bad affects not only to local but alsoregionally through the environment. Under that elaboration then willexamine how to resolve the conflict under international law and also toascertain state liability through environment destruction what was ensued

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