A law professor from Queen Mary University in London has called a proposal to make “ecocide” the fifth international crime the “most credible and advanced” effort to date to expand the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
Legal experts from across the globe have drawn up a "historic" definition of ecocide, intended to be adopted by the international criminal court to prosecute the most egregious offences against the environment.
Three leading climate and human rights nonprofits have asked the prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in the Hague to pursue rampant "land grabbing" by the government of Cambodia and its commerce partners as a crime against humanity under the court's jurisdiction.
International lawyers are drafting plans for a legally enforceable crime of ecocide – criminalising destruction of the world's ecosystems – that is already attracting support from European countries and island nations at risk from rising sea levels.
From the Pope to Greta Thunberg, there are growing calls for the crime of “ecocide” to be recognised in international criminal law – but could such a law ever work?
