Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T07:18:22.905Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

5 - Animals as Property and as Objects

from Part II - The Protection of Animals in International and Non-international Armed Conflicts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 October 2022

Anne Peters
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg
Jérôme de Hemptinne
Affiliation:
Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights
Robert Kolb
Affiliation:
Université de Genève
Get access

Summary

This chapter explores whether animals can be considered as ‘property’ and ‘objects’ under the law of armed conflict, in particular under Article 23(g) of the 1899/1907 Hague Regulations on the Laws and Customs of War on Land and under the law of targeting codified in Additional Protocol I. The chapter concludes that Article 23(g) of the Hague Regulations and the law of targeting apply to animals which are considered as ‘property’ and as ‘objects’. Upon such classification, animals fall in the scope of the relevant rules. The legal consequence is that animals may only be lawfully attacked when they qualify as military objectives or when the harm done to them is proportionate incidental damage resulting from an attack on a military objective. In military operations short of attack, animals may only be destroyed or seized if military necessity ‘imperatively’ dictates it. The violation of these rules triggers not only state responsibility but also the criminal liability of the responsible individual(s).

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Select Bibliography

Boothby, William H., The Law of Targeting (Oxford: Oxford University Press 2012).Google Scholar
Dinstein, Yoram, The Conduct of Hostilities under the Law of International Armed Conflict (3rd ed., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2016).Google Scholar
Fitzmaurice, Malgosia, Whaling and International Law (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2015).Google Scholar
de Hemptinne, Jérôme, ‘The Protection of Animals During Warfare’, American Journal of International Law Unbound 111 (2017), 272–6.Google Scholar
Jachec-Neale, Agnieszka, The Concept of Military Objective in International Law and Targeting Practice (London: Routledge 2015).Google Scholar
Nowrot, Karsten, ‘Animals at War: The Status of “Animal Soldiers” under International Humanitarian Law’, Historical Social Research 40 (2015), 128–50.Google Scholar
Peters, Anne, ‘Global Animal Law: What It Is and Why We Need It’, Transnational Environmental Law 5 (2016), 923.Google Scholar
Redse Johansen, Sigrid, The Military Commander’s Necessity: The Law of Armed Conflict and Its Limits (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2019).Google Scholar
Roscini, Marco, ‘Animals and the Law of Armed Conflict’, Israel Yearbook on Human Rights 47 (2017), 3567.Google Scholar
Schmitt, Michael N., ‘War and the Environment: Fault Lines in the Prescriptive Landscape’, Archiv des Völkerrechts 37 (1999), 2567.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×