Related Rule
Canada
Practice Relating to Rule 45. Causing Serious Damage to the Natural Environment
Canada’s LOAC Manual (1999) states:
83. Care shall be taken in an armed conflict to protect the natural environment against widespread, long-term and severe damage.
84. Attacks which are intended or may be expected to cause damage to the natural environment that prejudices the health or survival of the population are prohibited.
Canada, The Law of Armed Conflict at the Operational and Tactical Level, Office of the Judge Advocate General, 1999, pp. 4-8/4-9, §§ 83–84; see also p. 6-5, § 44.
Canada’s LOAC Manual (2001) states in its chapter on targeting:
1. Care shall be taken in an armed conflict to protect the natural environment against widespread, long-term and severe damage.
2. Attacks, which are intended or may be expected to cause damage to the natural environment, which prejudices the health or survival of the population, are prohibited.
Canada, The Law of Armed Conflict at the Operational and Tactical Levels, Office of the Judge Advocate General, 13 August 2001, § 446.1–2.
In its chapter on land warfare, the manual further states:
Care shall be taken in warfare to protect the natural environment against widespread, long-term and severe damage. This protection includes a prohibition of the use of methods or means of warfare that are intended or may be expected to cause such damage to the natural environment and thereby to prejudice the health or survival of the population.
Canada, The Law of Armed Conflict at the Operational and Tactical Levels, Office of the Judge Advocate General, 13 August 2001, § 620.1.
In its chapter on air warfare, the manual similarly states:
Care shall be taken in warfare to protect the natural environment against widespread, long-term and severe damage. This protection includes a prohibition of the use of methods or means of warfare, which are intended or may be expected to cause such damage to the natural environment and thereby to prejudice the health or survival of the population.
Canada, The Law of Armed Conflict at the Operational and Tactical Levels, Office of the Judge Advocate General, 13 August 2001, § 709.1.
Canada’s Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes Act (2000) provides that the war crimes defined in Article 8(2) of the 1998 ICC Statute are “crimes according to customary international law” and, as such, indictable offences under the Act.
Canada, Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes Act, 2000, Section 4(1) and (4).
In 2013, in the Sapkota case, Canada’s Federal Court dismissed a request for review of a decision denying refugee protection to the applicant on grounds of complicity in crimes against humanity in Nepal between 1991 and 2009. While reviewing the submissions of the respondent, Canada’s Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, the Court stated: “The Respondent notes that the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court … is endorsed in Canada as a source of customary law.”
Canada, Federal Court, Sapkota case, Reasons for Judgment and Judgment, 15 July 2013, § 28.
Canada’s LOAC Manual (1999) states: “Environmental techniques having widespread, long-lasting or severe effects are prohibited.”
Canada, The Law of Armed Conflict at the Operational and Tactical Level, Office of the Judge Advocate General, 1999, p. 5-3, § 22.
The manual further states:
45. In addition, Canada as a party to the Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques (ENMOD Convention) has undertaken not to engage in any military or hostile use of environmental modification techniques as the means of destruction, damage or injury to any other state which is party to the Convention.
46. An “environmental modification technique” is any technique for changing, through the deliberate manipulation of natural processes, the dynamics, composition or structure of the earth which would have widespread, long-term or severe effects.
Canada, The Law of Armed Conflict at the Operational and Tactical Level, Office of the Judge Advocate General, 1999, p. 6-5, §§ 45–46.
Canada’s LOAC Manual (2001) states in its chapter entitled “Restrictions on the use of weapons” that “environmental modification techniques having widespread, long-lasting or severe effects are prohibited”.
Canada, The Law of Armed Conflict at the Operational and Tactical Levels, Office of the Judge Advocate General, 13 August 2001, § 514.
In its chapter on land warfare, the manual further states:
1. Care shall be taken in warfare to protect the natural environment against widespread, long-term and severe damage. This protection includes a prohibition of the use of methods or means of warfare that are intended or may be expected to cause such damage to the natural environment and thereby to prejudice the health or survival of the population.
2. In addition, Canada as a party to the Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques (ENMOD Convention) has undertaken not to engage in any military or hostile use of environmental modification techniques as the means of destruction, damage or injury to any other state, which is a party to the Convention.
3. An “environmental modification technique” is any technique for changing, through the deliberate manipulation of natural processes, the dynamics, composition or structure of the earth which would have widespread, long-term or severe effects.
Canada, The Law of Armed Conflict at the Operational and Tactical Levels, Office of the Judge Advocate General, 13 August 2001, § 620.
Similarly, in its chapter on air warfare, the manual states:
1. Care shall be taken in warfare to protect the natural environment against widespread, long-term and severe damage. This protection includes a prohibition of the use of methods or means of warfare, which are intended or may be expected to cause such damage to the natural environment and thereby to prejudice the health or survival of the population.
2. In addition, Canada as a party to the Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques (ENMOD) has undertaken not to engage in any military or hostile use of environmental modification techniques as the means of destruction, damage or injury to any other state, which is party to the Convention.
3. Environmental modification techniques are defined by the ENMOD Convention as any technique for changing, through the deliberate manipulation of natural processes, the dynamics, composition or structure of the earth, which would have widespread, long-term or severe effects.
Canada, The Law of Armed Conflict at the Operational and Tactical Levels, Office of the Judge Advocate General, 13 August 2001, § 709.
