International legal qualification of NATO bombing the territory of Yugoslavia and its environmental consequences

The author analyzed the international legal consequences of NATO aggression against Yugoslavia. The aim of this study is to identify violations of international law in the course of this aggression and to propose the development of new international legal instruments, or to adopt amendments to existing legal acts. The study is based on theoretical and empirical material. In particular, the works of Russian researchers (V.A. Antonov, Yu.M. Kolosov, E.S. Krivchikova, and others) and studies of foreign authors (Y. Sandoz, C. Swinarski, B. Zimmermann, and others) have been used. International legal instruments (the Geneva Convention on the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 1949, the Stockholm Declaration of Principles of 1972, the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development of 1992, etc.) have also been used. The methodological basis of the research became dialectical, historical legal and formal legal methods. In particular, the use of a dialectical method contributed to the study of norms and principles of international law in the field of environmental protection. The use of historical legal and formal legal methods helped to identify the stages of developments in Yugoslavia during the NATO bombings and violations of international law. As a result, the author came to the conclusion that damage was effected as a result of both the direct use of weapons and a collateral impact on the environment. The destruction of industrial facilities and fires led to the atmospheric and water pollution as well as the contamination of soil with harmful substances. Huge quantities of nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, carbon monochloride, which resulted in the bombing of industrial facilities led to more ozone holes over Europe. The UNEP/Habitat Balkans Task Force recommended to isolate areas contaminated by the use of weapons containing depleted uranium. Combustion of warheads at high temperature and pressure led to the release of uranium oxide in the form of aerosol. Uranium oxide has a harmful effect on the respiratory tract of people within 300 meters of the epicenter of the explosion leading to severe burns of the mucous membrane and subsequent malignant neoplasms. Depleted uranium particles can neither be extracted from the environment nor neutralized. The weight of explosives dropped on the territory of Yugoslavia exceeded 10 tons. In general, meticulous destruction of the flora and fauna in the Mediterranean as a whole took place. The events in Yugoslavia echo as a reminder of environmental consequences of armed conflicts. They were one of the most extreme forms of environmental destruction, also known as ecocide.

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