YEREVAN, Armenia — On July 9, the International Environmental Law Professional Development Program hosted a session at the American University of Armenia (AUA) on how international humanitarian law (IHL) protects the natural environment during armed conflict. The session was organized in collaboration with the delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Armenia.
The lecture was delivered by Tamar Tomashvili, associate professor of Law at the Free University of Tbilisi and an IHL expert at the International Development Law Organization. Tomashvili currently serves as an International Humanitarian Law and International Criminal Law expert for Ukraine, where she advises Ukrainian authorities on alleged environmental war crimes and ecocide. She drew on that experience throughout the session, giving participants a close view of how the rules work in a live conflict.
Tomashvili opened with the environment as one of the quiet casualties of war, from Agent Orange in Vietnam and the burning oil wells of the Gulf War to the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam in Ukraine. She explained that several bodies of law protect the environment in wartime, including the rules of war, environmental treaties, human rights law, and international criminal law, and they do not simply switch off once war begins.
Part of the lecture followed the ICRC Guidelines on the Protection of the Natural Environment in Armed Conflict, first issued in 1994 and updated in 2020, which bring the relevant rules together in one place. Tomashvili showed how the basic principles of the laws of war, distinction, proportionality, and precaution, apply to the environment, which is treated as a civilian object that may not be attacked unless it becomes a military target.
Participants also examined the special protection given to the resources communities depend on, such as drinking water and crops, and to dams and power stations, along with the limits on damaging or exploiting natural resources during conflict and occupation, and accountability for harm inflicted.
Tomashvili addressed both disputes between states before the International Court of Justice as well as the responsibility of individuals for environmental war crimes. She explained why such cases are very hard to bring, from the high bar for proving serious harm to the difficulty of gathering evidence in wartime. She closed on the growing movement to recognize ecocide as an international crime, noting that several countries, including Armenia and Georgia, already treat ecocide as a crime under their own law.
The format of the lecture was practical and interactive, where participants worked through real scenarios, tested the rules against concrete facts, and debated where the law protects the environment and where it falls short.
The Program is developed and implemented by a consortium of Armenian institutions: the AUA Acopian Center for the Environment, the AUA LL.M. Program, the YSU Master’s Program in International Courts and Arbitration, the YSU Center for Environmental Law, and the Armenian International Law Association.
The AUA Acopian Center for the Environment, a research center of the American University of Armenia (AUA), promotes the protection and restoration of the natural environment through research, education, and community outreach. The AUA Acopian Center’s focus areas include sustainable natural resource management, biodiversity protection and conservation, greening the built environment, sustainable energy, as well as information technology and the environment. Visit http://ace.aua.am.