Anne Peters, Jérôme de Hemptinne and Robert Kolb (eds), Animals in the International Law of Armed Conflict

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size

Acknowledgments

This book review is based on a discussion that took place during the launch event for the book organised by the University of Westminster on 16 November 2022. I am grateful to Marco Longobardo for inviting me as one of the discussants to the launch event, and I would also like to thank the other discussants and speakers for their thought-provoking presentations. Special thanks to I. Sirbiladze and A. Schmidl for kindly helping in proof-reading the manuscript of this review.

Notes

1 See, inter alia, A Clapham, P Gaeta and M Sassòli (eds), The 1949 Geneva Conventions: A Commentary (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2015); B Saul and D Akande (eds), The Oxford Guide to International Humanitarian Law (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2020); D Fleck (ed), The Handbook of International Humanitarian Law (4th edn, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2021); M Sassòli, International Humanitarian Law: Rules, Controversies, and Solutions to Problems Arising in Warfare (Edward Elgar, 2019)

2 These include A Peters, Animals in International Law (Leiden/Boston, Brill/Nijhoff, 2021) 334–420; A Peters and J de Hemptinne, ‘Animals in War: At the Vanishing Point of International Humanitarian Law’ (2022) 104 International Review of the Red Cross 1298; J de Hemptinne, ‘Challenges Regarding the Protection of Animals during Warfare’ in A Peters (ed) Studies in Global Animal Law (Heidelberg, Springer, 2020) 173–182; J de Hemptinne, ‘The Protection of Animals during Warfare’ (2017) 111 AJIL Unbound 272; K Nowrot, ‘Animals at War: The Status of ‘Animal Soldiers’ under International Humanitarian Law’ (2015) 40 Historical Social Research 128; M Roscini, ‘Animals and the Law of Armed Conflict’ (2017) 47 Israeli Yearbook on Human Rights 35.

3 The Martens Clause first appeared in the preambles of the 1899 and 1907 Hague Conventions, and it was affirmed by the Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions. Article 1(2) of the Protocol states that ‘[i]n cases not covered by this Protocol or by other international agreements, civilians and combatants remain under the protection and authority of the principles of international law derived from established custom, from the principles of humanity and the dictates of public conscience’.

4 See, for example, Michael Bothe and others, ‘International Law Protecting the Environment during Armed Conflict: Gaps and Opportunities’ (2010) 92 (879) International Review of the Red Cross 575–76.

5 Marina Lostal, ‘De-objectifying Animals: Could They Qualify as Victims before the International Criminal Court?’ (2021) 19 Journal of International Criminal Justice 583.

6 It should be noted that in an earlier publication Peters identified the increased funding of armed conflicts through wildlife trafficking as one of the reasons why animal law has become globalised. See Peters, Animals in International Law (n 2) 46.

7 Nowrot (n 2) 143.

8 See Sassoli (n 1) 248 (describing the rights, privileges, and responsibilities of combatants).

9 Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 and Relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (June 8, 1977) U.N. Doc A/74/10 (Protocol I) art 44(3–4).

10 Y Dinstein, Conduct of Hostilities under the Law of International Armed Conflict (4th edn, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2022) 121.

11 Commentary on Protocol I (1987) Art 35 para 1441; https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/ihl-treaties/api-1977. Accessed 1 September 2023.

12 Ibid para 1462.

13 For detailed analysis of these rules see A Dienelt, Armed Conflicts and the Environment (Springer, 2022) 41–52.

14 Peters and de Hemptinne (n 2), 1308, 1313.

15 For more on this topic see B Bovenkerk and J Keulartz (eds), Animals in Our Midst: The Challenges of Co-existing with Animals in the Anthropocene (Springer, 2021); GL Francione and R Garner, The Animal Rights Debate: Abolition or Regulation? (New York, Columbia University Press, 2010); P Singer, In Defence of Animals (Blackwell Publishing, 2006); and W Scholtz (ed), Animal Welfare and International Environmental Law from Conservation to Compassion (Edward Elgar, 2019).