Cusato, Eliana (2019) Overcoming the “Logic of Exception”: A Critique of the UN Security Council’s Response to Environmental Damage from the 1990–91 Gulf War. Asian Journal of International Law, 9 (1). pp. 75-97. DOI https://doi.org/10.1017/s2044251318000061
Cusato, Eliana (2019) Overcoming the “Logic of Exception”: A Critique of the UN Security Council’s Response to Environmental Damage from the 1990–91 Gulf War. Asian Journal of International Law, 9 (1). pp. 75-97. DOI https://doi.org/10.1017/s2044251318000061
Cusato, Eliana (2019) Overcoming the “Logic of Exception”: A Critique of the UN Security Council’s Response to Environmental Damage from the 1990–91 Gulf War. Asian Journal of International Law, 9 (1). pp. 75-97. DOI https://doi.org/10.1017/s2044251318000061
Abstract
This paper examines the UN Security Council’s [UNSC] response to the environmental impact of the 1990–91 Gulf War and its relevance to ongoing debates on environmental protection during armed conflict. With Resolution 687/91, the UNSC referred to “environmental damage and depletion of natural resources” in the context of war reparations, and established the UN Compensation Commission [UNCC] to process environmental claims. Whilst this is often hailed as a success story, this paper raises questions about certain dimensions of the UNCC: the choice of the applicable law; the decision-making process, particularly in relation to causation and remedies; and its punitive/biased nature. It argues that the successful outcome of the environmental compensation regime cannot be separated from the UNCC’s exceptional application of international legal norms. By drawing attention to this “logic of exception”, I suggest that alternative responses, more attentive to the dynamics of contemporary conflicts and their multiple environmental impacts, should be imagined.
Item Type: | Article |
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Divisions: | Faculty of Humanities Faculty of Humanities > Essex Law School |
SWORD Depositor: | Unnamed user with email elements@essex.ac.uk |
Depositing User: | Unnamed user with email elements@essex.ac.uk |
Date Deposited: | 13 Feb 2020 17:46 |
Last Modified: | 06 Jan 2022 14:09 |
URI: | http://repository.essex.ac.uk/id/eprint/26449 |
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Filename: CUSATO - Overcoming the logic of exception - AsianJIL.pdf