AKEL DECLARATION ON THE “INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR PREVENTING THE EXPLOITATION OF THE ENVIRONMENT, WAR AND ARMED CONFLICTS”
AKEL NICOSIA ENVIRONMENTAL BUREAU
6th November 2013, Nicosia
The United Nations has declared 6th November of each year as the “International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict”, recognising the destruction which the environment suffers during armed conflicts. As AKEL, we consider that such a day cannot remain unnoticed due to the prolonged armed conflicts which can be observed in the wider region of the Eastern Mediterranean over the past 30 years, but also because of the on-going breakup of the eco-system of Cyprus as a result of the Turkish occupation.
It has now been scientifically proven that during armed conflicts and wars, the environment suffers from such wide-spread destruction, which long afterwards continue to affect the regions where these armed conflicts were waged. Since 2003, the United Nations, through its Environment Programme (UNEP), have proceeded to record the effects armed conflicts have had on the environment, and consequently on the health of the populations of countries. The Report, which was presented in Geneva on 24th April 2003, proved in the most official way that the timely publication of the environmental findings regarding the catastrophic results of armed conflicts and warfare can prevent the further deterioration of people’s health and safety, but also of the very eco-system of the affected regions.
Despite the self-evident conclusions of the Organisation of the United Nations, the ecological and environmental destruction of the region of the Eastern Mediterranean is continuing, both as a result of the environmental damage caused by the extensive armed conflicts in the 1990’s, as well as by the imperialist interventions in neighbouring countries! The wider region of the Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean is still counting the damage caused to the environment from the massive war waged in Iraq and Kuwait at the beginning of the 1990’s.
In the long-term, the effects on people’s health are given, characterised mainly by air pollution, increasing levels of concentrated sulphur dioxide in the soil, as well as growing cases with respiratory symptoms, asthmatic attacks, chronic bronchitis and increased mortality rates.
The use of depleted uranium in armed conflicts is of particular concern. It is estimated that more than 290 metric tons of depleted uranium shells were used by the military forces of the United States during the Gulf War. In Iraq, people are dying even to this very day from radioactive poisoning due to the depleted uranium that was released during the NATO bombings. Children and elderly people are affected by cancer and other illnesses in regions where weapons containing depleted uranium were used.
AKEL believes that the major environmental problems Cyprus is facing today are directly linked to the long and on-going armed conflicts that have broken out over the last decades in the wider region of the Middle East and the Eastern Mediterranean, including the Turkish invasion. Particularly worrisome for Cyprus is the protracted armed conflict in neighbouring Syria, especially with the finding of the use of banned chemical weapons.
It is imperative that the world anti-war movement marches together with the world environmental movement so that direct pressure is exerted on the United Nations Organisation and the European Union for the protection of the environment, the peoples and people’s civilisations.
