NEW YORK - Toxic remnants of war, including chemical agents, heavy metals, radioactive materials and persistent pollutants, are inflicting severe and long-lasting harm on people and ecosystems, a UN expert warned today.
"Toxic releases from military activities before, during and after armed conflicts not only threaten the rights to life, health, water, food, and a healthy environment of both current and future generations, but also undermine peacebuilding and reconstruction," said Marcos Orellana, UN Special Rapporteur on toxics and human rights.
In a report to the 80th session of the UN General Assembly, Orellana documented contamination due to military activities. The toxic sources he identified include depleted uranium munitions, asbestos and heavy metals from destroyed infrastructure, conflict-related oil spills, PFAS chemicals from firefighting foams at military bases, nuclear testing, and glyphosate spraying, among others.
Toxic remnants of war, including unexploded ordnance, chemical pollution, and sunken military vessels, can remain hazardous for decades, or longer, denying communities access to healthy soils, clean water and livelihoods. Indigenous Peoples, women, children, displaced persons and rural communities are often disproportionately affected.
"Accountability is hindered by military secrecy, unqualified sovereign immunity, and the difficulty of proving causation after long latency periods," the Special Rapporteur said. "There is a need for baseline environmental data, advanced monitoring, including satellite remote sensing, and effective remedies, such as clean-up and compensation."
Addressing these toxic legacies requires integrating human rights safeguards into military planning and post-conflict recovery, the expert stated. "International human rights law continues to apply in armed conflict, complementing international humanitarian law and multilateral environmental agreements," he said.
"While the UN International Law Commission and the International Committee of the Red Cross have recently clarified legal obligations related to the protection of the environment in armed conflict, more needs to be done to prevent, reduce and address toxic legacies," Orellana said.
The report contains a series of recommendations, including for States to include the crime of ecocide in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, safeguard protected areas that may be adversely affected by armed conflict, prohibit weapons with severe toxic legacies, such as depleted uranium and white phosphorus, and elaborate a new international instrument to address toxic remnants of war.
"Contamination caused by military activities is not inevitable, it is preventable," the Special Rapporteur said.
He stressed that peacebuilding needs mandated environmental assessments both during and after conflict, and victims require assistance, including adequate healthcare.
"States must act decisively to protect people and the planet from the toxic remnants of war," the expert said.
