The Iraqi oil "weapon" in the 1991 Gulf War : an international law analysis

Abstract

On the second of August, 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait, setting off a chain of international events culminating in the United Nations sanctioned attack upon Iraq by a number of nations led by the United States. The purpose of this paper is to consider one aspect of that armed conflict: the Iraqi release of oil at the Sea Island Terminal and the igniting of the Kuwaiti oil wells under both international environmental law and the international law of armed conflict. Relevant sources from both these fields of international law will be reviewed and an attempt then made to apply them to the Iraqi oil "weapon". The basic thesis of this paper is that the Iraqi oil weapon did violate certain portions of both fields of international law, although not in the expansive manner that some international lawyers have asserted. Specifically, the oil weapon violated Iraq's duties as a party to the Kuwait Regional Convention, and the general international law principle of non-interference. Iraq also violated customary international law as evidenced by the Hague IV Regulations. It also failed to carry out its duties as a party to the 1949 Geneva Conventions. Options for enforcing the applicable law are then reviewed, including a discussion of the historic reparations mechanism developed by the United Nations Security Council. This paper concludes with an appraisal of the limitations for further developing environmental protections during armed conflicts.