Animals in Wartime

doi:10.1017/9781009057301.002

1 - Animals in Wartime

A Legal Research Agenda

from Part I - The Need for Protecting Animals in Wartime

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 October 2022

Anne Peters and

Jérôme de Hemptinne

Edited by

Anne Peters ,

Jérôme de Hemptinne and

Robert Kolb

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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

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Summary

After recalling the context and purposes of the research, the chapter introduces the main challenges raised by the legal protection of animals during warfare: the silence of international humanitarian law on the issue, the difficulty in identifying which animals should be safeguarded, the inaptitude of international humanitarian law to adequately protect animals, and the ambivalent nature of the violence inflicted upon animals in wartime. The chapter then introduces the principal paradigms on which the legal protection of animals is grounded: animal species conservation regimes, animal welfare norms and animal rights. It subsequently emphasises three specific difficulties posed for animals by the current state of international law: the animal welfare gap in international law, the tension between species conservation and concern for individual animal welfare, and the fact that notably international trade and financial law has stymied animal welfare and protection efforts. The chapter then explores options to face these challenges while making best use of the legal strategies available within the existing normative framework. Potential new directions for developing international law on armed conflict are finally identified.

Keywords

wildlife in war animal species conservation animal welfare animal rights ‘hard’ law ‘soft’ law customary rules dynamic interpretation

Type: Chapter
Information: Animals in the International Law of Armed Conflict , pp. 3 - 27

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009057301.002 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2022

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References

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Stucki, Saskia, ‘(Certified) Human Violence? Animal Welfare Labels, the Ambivalence of Humanizing the Inhumane, and What International Humanitarian Law Has to Do With It’, in Peters, Anne (ed.), Studies in Global Animal Law (Heidelberg: Springer 2020), 121–31.Google Scholar