Crimes against environment: a social and criminal responsibility

Howrah Moosa, an Emirati graduate student from Ajman University of Science & Technology, presented a unique research as her Master’s thesis in which she addressed the penal laws for crimes against the environment in the UAE. In her paper, the young researcher calls for enforcing the sanction-related provisions of the Environmental Protection & Development Act, to help reduce environmental pollution.

Her research highlights the importance of raising the level of environmental awareness amongst individuals to avoid environmental violations on the pretext of ignorance. “The culture of environment preservation should be instilled in the young minds through compulsory courses in schools and universities,” Howrah proposed.

Howrah’s research, entitled "The Legal Responsibility for Crimes against the Environment," calls for the federal legislator in the Environmental Protection Act to confiscate all means collected and used in committing a crime against the environment through pollution, and to set legal procedures to dispose of such materials in environment-friendly methods. She also called the federal legislator to increase the minimum financial penalty against perpetrators of crimes against the environment to 50 thousand dirhams.

The protection of our environment is on the convergence of social and penal responsibility; therefore, it requires immediate attention from the legal community. “Traditional laws exist but they are not comprehensive enough to cover the crimes being committed against nature,” said Howrah, who added, “There is a need to introduce special laws for the protection and preservation of the environment.”

Howrah also discussed the various difficulties encountered during the course of her research as this is a vast subject with many aspects that require immediate and long-term solutions. The most difficult point is the determination of the kind of crime committed and its effects on nature.

With this successful thesis, the young Emirati researcher has graduated from Ajman University’s College of Law with a Master's in Public Law with distinction. The thesis was supervised by Dr. Abdul Razzaq Mowafi, professor of criminal law at the Dubai Judicial Institute. The thesis defense committee was chaired by Dr. Zain Al Abidin Rizk, dean of the Institute of Environment, Water and Energy at Ajman University and included Dr. Abdul Razzaq Mowafi, and Dr. Latifa Hamid Jumaili, professor of criminal law at AUST College of Law.