Background The ICJ has held that Article 74 of the UN Charter obliges every State not to knowingly allow “its territory to be used for acts contrary to the rights of other States”. 93 Similarly, the obligation of all States to protect within their territory, the rights of other States, and in particular, their right to integrity and inviolability in times of peace and war has been recognised by the Permanent Court of Arbitration.94 With regard to State action impacting on the environment and rights in territory external to the State, the seminal case is the Trail Smelter Arbitration 95 which held that a State cannot use or permit the use of its territory in such as manner as to cause injury to another state. In 1972, the position was affirmed in Principle 21 of the Stockholm Declaration, which provided that: States have, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the principles of international law, the sovereign right to exploit their own resources pursuant to their own environmental policies and the responsibility to ensure that activities within their jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to the environment of other States or of areas beyond the limits of their national jurisdiction. In 1995 this principle had become well accepted and was confirmed in the ICJ’s Advisory Opinion on the Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons, which stated: The existence of the general obligation of States to ensure that activities within its jurisdiction and control respect the environment of other States or areas beyond national control is now a part of the corpus of international law relating to the environment.96 Cooperation within the region In the region, the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution of 25 November 2003 binds States Parties to take action on pollution resulting from land and forest fires. It includes provisions on monitoring, assessment, prevention, technical co-operation and simplified customs and immigration procedures for disaster relief. Recommendations A list of recommendations is contained in Part 2. Amongst others, recommendations relevant to this term of reference include: • • • • • • • 1.3. 2.2. 2.4. 3.2. 3.3. 4.1. 4.2. Application of existing rights Development of Domestic Regulatory Regimes Participatory rights Issues affecting Implementation Environmental Impact Assessment Engaging with key stakeholders Public Awareness 93 United Kingdom v Albania. 1949 ICJ reports 4. Palmas Case. Perm. Ct. Arb. 1928, 2 U.N. Rep. Intl. Arb. Awards 829. 95 Trail Smelter Arbitration (U.S. v Can.) (1941) 3 U.N.R.I.A.A. 1938 (1949). 96 1996 ICJ Reports 241 @ para 29. 94 - 27 -