TURKPA participated in IPU webinar on the Protection of the Environment in Armed Conflict

The Secretary of the TURKPA Commission on Environment, Natural Resources and Health Protection Ms. Aynura Abutalibova, participated, in the capacity of observer, in the second webinar of the parliamentary series on international humanitarian law (IHL), entitled “Protection of the Natural Environment in Armed Conflict: How Can Parliaments Ensure Environmental Protection through the Implementation of IHL?”

The webinar was organized by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Committee to Promote Respect for International Humanitarian Law, with the support of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and was moderated by Ms. Gabriela Morawska-Stanecka, Senator of Poland, Vice-President of the IPU and Member of the IPU Committee to Promote Respect for International Humanitarian Law.

Bringing together experts in international humanitarian law and environmental policy, the webinar focused on the immediate and long-term environmental consequences of armed conflict, as well as the role of parliaments in strengthening the implementation of international humanitarian law to ensure the protection of the natural environment.

The Speaker of the Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ms. Sahiba Gafarova, also took part in the webinar and delivered a speech, emphasizing that the protection of the natural environment during armed conflict is not only an environmental concern, but also a humanitarian, legal and security imperative. She underlined the long-term damage that armed conflicts inflict on ecosystems, biodiversity, water resources and agricultural land, stressing that such consequences undermine sustainable development and adversely affect future generations.