Tímarit lögfræðinga - 01.12.1989, Blaðsíða 13

Especially relevant in this context is Article 2, paragraph 4, of the
United Nations Charter which provides that all Members have under-
taken the solemn obligation to:
“refrain in their international relations from the threat or use
of foree against the territorial integrity or political independence
of any State ...
It is a terrifying reality that the two nuclear engines of war used over
Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 with such cataclysmic effects may
be considered “minibombs” compared to the incomprehensible finality
of a modern hydrogen bomb.
2. Leading scientists maintain that in an all-out nuclear war some
80% of the protective ozone layer around our globe will be destroyed
in the Northem hemisphere and some 30—40% in the Southern. The
consequent enhanced exposure to ultraviolet rays will increase enor-
mously inter alia the risks of cancer and of damages to the human eye.
3. Another alleged consequence of a nuclear debacle was set forth in
1985 by a group of the world’s foremost natural scientists and
meteorologists. In their findings they forcefully maintain that a
nuclear war between the world powers will cause enormous climatic
changes and result in the so-called “nuclear winter”.
The nuclear explosions will cause enormous quantities of dust and
earth particles to be thrown into the atmosphere surrounding our
globe. This will cause a disastrous drop in temperature. Thus in addition
to the horrendous loss of lives directly resulting from the war, it has
been alleged that perhaps some 2.5 billion people will perish from
hunger and cold.
4. The debate on the consequences of modern warfare has been mainly
focused on nuclear weapons. But other horrendous types of modem
warfare may also cause unforeseeable harm to the environment. In
passing, I may mention chemical warfare where the main purpose
of so-called defoliants is to kill nature itself, namely the dense tropical
vegetation in an attempt to reveal the hiding place of the enemy and
force them out in the open. Another deplorable consequence of this
type of chemical warfare — and chemical warfare has been prohibited
by positive international law — is that defoliants have proved to have
219