Kuwait Fire
Kuwait faced a huge challenge in the year 1990 where the worst oil pollution occurred. This incident was brought about by the invasion of Iraqi troops which damaged the environment and the health of human beings. Oil is major contributor in the GDP of Kuwait as it leads to major revenue and employment. The war on between Iraq and Kuwait brought about major effects to the environment and victims (Baase, 2012). It also brought about constraints against the people involved by creating laws and sanctions. It was an incident where seven hundred and eight wells of oil were destroyed in the fire. This included about 2-3 million barrels that got consumed in the fire. The smoke from the fire and the spills on the desert brought about much contamination. This had many impacts on the ecosystem which brought about many limitations and laws (Uhlmann, 2011). This paper will analyze the criminological explanations that occurred during the oil fire in Kuwait. It will also discuss the causes of the crime that brought about the event as well as the victim identification and protections. This will be accompanied by the environmental laws and constraints which limit creation of stronger laws and sanctions.
The oil fire that occurred in Kuwait was brought about by a war between Kuwait and Iraq where Saddam Hussein initiated a plan to place explosives at all the oil wells in Kuwait. This brought about severe effects to the people of Kuwait as they suffered from contamination of the environment and the ecosystem. The oil fields that burnt marked the moment where the people of Kuwait suffered the greatest environmental crimes during the Gulf War. Most researchers indicate that war was initiated due to the issue of oil where Iraq wanted to control the exportation of oil in the Middle East. Kuwait was invaded due to their funding of the war between Iraq and Iran (Uhlmann, 2011). Kuwait had loaned money to Iraq during the war and after it was over, Iraq was unable to pay the loan and Kuwait was not ready to pardon them on the debt. This created strains and struggles between the two countries involved in the war and they were unable to agree on clear terms. The contractual terms agreed upon between Kuwait and OPEC undermined the efforts put forward by Iraq to elevate their economic situation. This created tension between the two states where Iraq accused Kuwait of drilling oil in a slanted mode into Rumaila field located in Iraq (Uhlmann, 2011).
Consequently these activities contributed to the war where Iraq’s troops attacked the key places in Kuwait in a view to devastate their economy. Some of the places that were attacked included Dasman Palace which was the Royal Residence while in other instances tanks were restricted to enter in Iraq by the Kuwait Emiri Guards (Husain, 1995). This led to the destruction of property and massive deaths of people and service men who had engaged in the war to curb the invasion. States such as India withdrew their people to avoid their involvement in the war. Saddam’s acts of terrorism brought about the emergence of the flora and fauna terms that referred to the ecological damage across the gulf.
The information about this war was acquired from veterans who were involved in the fire incident. This included conducting interviews in order to gather information or even questionnaires that were filled out by the respondents. Most of the informants on this issue included the bosses who were also engaged in putting out the fire. The authors on this issued used information from the Department of Defense hospitals to estimate the rates of hospitalization due to the rates of smoke exposure. The intention of the war was to cause pollution and injury, where the men’s ream was intended to knowingly fail to obey and keep the home fire burning (Husain, 1995).
The Kuwait Oil Fire brought about victim identification and protection where efforts to promote environmental law were challenged through: policies of the piecemeal environmental laws, inadequate environmental public law, deficiency of environmental judgments and the regional level. The policy of the Piecemeal Environmental laws issued selective regulations that catered situations such as Kuwait as the Gulf to pass Environmental legislation. This law only focused on the issues of marine environment. There were no environmental public authority laws that catered for the environmental claims and secured the rights for compensations attributed to the damages brought about by Iraq in their illegal invasion and occupation in Kuwait (Husain, 1995). Similarly, another constraint that limited the creation of strong laws and sanctions was they there were ineffective environmental judgments in Kuwait that had the mandate to review the environmental laws and regulations. They also had deficiency in the jurisdiction that included judicial review and civil or environmental issues. The Environmental Public Authority sought insight from the Ministry of Justice in order to handle environmental factors but this was faced with objections that limited creation of such agendas even in future (Uhlmann, 2011).
Another constraint that limited creation of strong laws and sanctions is that the issue involved regional countries across that level. This included the Kuwait Convention of 1978 and its Proposals that recognized the key aspects of regional approaches in protecting the marine environment and involved eight countries that neighbored the Arabian Gulf for Conference in Kuwait. The Arab Regional Center for Environmental Law (ARCEL) indicated that Kuwait lacked proper structures for the laws on environment (Deeter 2011). The only laws that existed engaged in managing the environment and describing the functions of the public authorities for the environment. They also entailed safe guarding the natural resources which played a major role in developing the environmental cases as it eradicates the rulings on the protection of the environment.
The victim identification and protection procedures that occurred during and after the war included development of environmental laws that aimed at defining the importance of the role of the judiciary in applying the national laws related to conserving the environment. They also focused on building a basis where cooperation among the judicial entities in the Arab Countries strengthened the role of the judiciary in conservation of the environment through applying environmental laws at the national level (Hulme, 2004). This was accompanied by highlighting the courts in Kuwait to respond to the environmental cases within the country. It also involved the evaluation of the environmental claims before the United Nations compensations Commission for Environmental Damages. The Environmental laws involved reviewing the international practices that established special environmental law courts to settle the disputes over the environment around the world. It also helped in solving the requirements for the success of Kuwait in the Arab Region.
The principle of distinction was applied during armed conflict and prohibited indiscriminate attacks against the civilians. There was also the principal of proportionality that required differentiation between the ways force was used in the armed conflict. It restricted the use of force between states and the right to choose the most appropriate means and methods of warfare. The laws utilized within Kuwait conserved the environment through legal measures on the national and international levels. This occurred due to the fact that Kuwait had formed alliances with over 28 International and Regional Environmental Conventions (Deeter 2011). This greatly contributed to better understanding implementation of the environmental laws. The initiatives strengthened the environmental laws in Kuwait as they had brought about effective costs in the way they supported proper management of the environment in Kuwait. The environmental laws also led to cooperation between the authority bodies that were involved in enforcing the regulations (Eichenwald, 2005). It also unified the policies and developed effective programs and initiatives that protected the environment.
The Environmental laws formulated in Kuwait after the oil fire had impacts in the other Arab countries as it led to taking the roles of the judiciary. It led to aspects where protection of environment was treated with utmost priority. The Gulf War was highly condemned by international bodies where policies were set in place to control the oil and environmental structures (Al-Damkhi, 2007b). They brought about constraints that limited strong laws sanctions that protected the environment. Alliances were formed to secure the environment and maintain peace where the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) or Status of Mission Agreement (SOMA) that negotiated with the countries in terms of safeguarding the environment (Al-Damkhi, 2007a). The principle of humanity was adopted in articulating the fundamental objectives and mitigates the human suffering caused by the war. It brought about critical measures where international agreements related to the environment and the rules of international laws applied to the laws of armed conflicts.
In conclusion, the political and social integration policies adopted served the interests of particular groups that could elevate the conflict. They also brought about solving the issues between the states engaged in the war by putting in place clear policies that outlined the terms and conditions where they would engage in friendly negotiations (Deeter 2011). They also had alliances that brought them together to engage in economic ventures that would boost the status of Arab countries.
References
Al-Damkhi, A.M. (2007a). Kuwait’s oil well fires, 1991: environmental crime and war. International Journal of Environmental Studies, 64(1), 31-44.
Al-Damkhi, A.M. (2007b). Risk Management Behind Kuwait's Firefighting Emergency Plan. Human & Ecological Risk Assessment, 13(2), 449-456.
Baase, S. (2012). A gift of fire: Social, legal, and ethical issues for computing and the Internet. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Prentice Hall.
Deeter D.P (2011). The Kuwait Oil Fire Health Risk Assessment Biological Surveillance Initiative. Military Medicine [Mil Med], 176.
Eichenwald, K. (2005). Conspiracy of fools: A true story. New York: Random House Large Print.
Hulme, K. (2004). War torn environment: Interpreting the legal threshold. Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.
Husain, T. (1995). Kuwaiti oil fires: Regional environmental perspectives. Oxford: Pergamon.
Uhlmann, D.M (2011). After The Spill Is Gone: The Gulf Of Mexico, Environmental Crime, And The Criminal Law. Michigan Law Review.,109(8), 1413-1416.
