The rules of the international protection of the environment and developing them in times of armed conflicts

Where environmental vulnerability of the damage during an armed conflicts will be inevitable, as a result of the devastating effects of the weapons that might be used during the conduct of hostilities, biological and chemical weapons, which negatively and significantly affect the environment and pose a significant risk to the survival of the population, which as is the case when the use of landmines and cluster shells and the Soviet Chernobyl nuclear reactor which exploded in 1986 – this is an example of the destruction of the natural environment and human life, even if in the case of the peace. Although the protection of the environment during an armed conflicts has not received the importance, it deserves despite the environmental massive destruction suffered by the First and the Second World wars, the 1974–1977 diplomatic conference, convened by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to confirm the development of international humanitarian law applicable in armed conflicts. The special provisions of the natural environment protection during international armed conflicts accepted by the conference and were finally approved within the Article (50) and paragraph (3) of Article (35), were unlucky those relating to none - international armed conflicts, it has drawn opposition from delegations present at the conference on the grounds that the priority should be concern for human rights in such disputes, and that the rebels would not bother with these laws any interest, and these armed non-international conflicts remained without any operation of an international organization to the subject of environmental protection, and so the rules of humanitarian international law did not address the subject of environmental protection. However, this is an additional Protocol II in the 1977 only. However, the rules and principles contained in humanitarian international law, which can be employed to protect the environment in the period of armed conflicts; also humanitarian international law includes a set of rules that protect the environment indirectly. Accordingly, the address of this issue requires discussions in two sections: In the first section there are direct and indirect agreements for international protection of the environment during an armed conflicts. Finally, there is the role of international organizations and national legislation to protect the environment in the second section.