The destruction of trees and crops was so severe that Olof Palme, the former prime minister of Sweden believed that the Nixon administration was guilty of ecocide. Two million hectares were destroyed, but there was no legal way to challenge the act. Fast forward 50 Jahre, and an international movement is gaining momentum to enshrine ecocide as a crime in international law.
The first ever global citizens assembly, COP26, was held in Glasgow on 2021. It argued that ecocide should also be recognized by international courts. If this were to happen, it would join war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity on the list of the most serious crimes enforceable under the 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court of The Hague.
A proposal to amend the Rome Statute must first be made by the country that signed it. The amendment must then be approved by at least two-thirds of the other countries. There may be countries that are willing to lead this charge. In December 2021, a strong majority in a Belgian court voted to recognise ecocide as an international crime, demanding that the Belgian France wrote ecocide into national law back in August 2021, with up to ten years imprisonment for offences that cause serious and lasting damage to health, flora and fauna or the quality of the air, soil or water. The EU encouraged its member states and other countries to promote ecocide in their domestic criminal justice system and to push for its recognition by international courts.
Philippe Sands, a lawyer who was part of a panel that proposed an ecocide definition to the UN in June 2021 said that the shared environment has been missing from international law for too long. All crimes that can be punished by the ICC are focused on protecting the human person. He believes there is a gap. Sands draws inspiration from Raphael Lemkin and Hersch Lauterpacht, two legal figures who created the legal parameters for genocide and crimes versus humanity. They wanted to create a legal environment in which those who committed these horrific acts would be able to see that they could be indicted under domestic and international law. This would have a preventative impact. Proponents of enshrining Ecocide into law believe it could help hold politicians, corporations, CEOs, and government officials accountable for any environmental damage they cause.
Sands is a realist himself, and he points out that there are limitations. First, just because you have defined international crimes doesn’t mean they won’t happen. Genocide has been a crime of international concern for 75 years after the Nuremberg trials of 1945. However, many believe that acts falling within its definition still happen, such as against the Rohingya in Myanmar and Uyghurs in China. Second, if the ICC adopts ecocide, notable absences from Rome Statute, including China and Russia, could limit its reach.
Even though ecocide is not completely preventive, recognition of it as an international crime would allow the ICC to award reparations or to order them to victims. This is not an uncommon precedent. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights in 2012 ruled that reforestation programs should be awarded to the Kichwa Indigenous group of Ecuador, whose livelihoods had been damaged by the illegal exploration of its land by oil companies. The move would also have a significant symbolic effect. Sands says, “I have worked with Yazidi communities in northern Iraq, Syria, and focusing on genocide.” Why genocide? Because genocide is a crime that seeks to prevent the destruction and destruction of groups. Ecocide is the exact same as ecocide. The international law would recognize the natural environment as something worth protecting.
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