Small “e”, the crime of ecocide. Will we soon see this addition in article 5 of the Rome Statute? Tuesday, a panel of twelve jurists from around the world, set up by the
Stop Ecocide foundation , presented a proposal for a definition of the crime of ecocide to be included in this international treaty.
The Rome Statute, which entered into force in July 2002 and ratified to date by 124 countries, created the International Penal Court, whose jurisdiction is limited to the most serious crimes affecting the entire international community. Article 5 of this treaty precisely defines them. There are four: the crime of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression. In other words, “these crimes focus on the well-being of the human being, point
Philippe Sands, law professor at
University College of London (UCL) who co-chaired the panel. We must go beyond and seek to include our natural world, our ecosystems. No international legislation protects the environment as such to date. “
From Agent Orange… to the climate crisis and the erosion of biodiversity
This gap in international law had already been highlighted with the use of Agent Orange by the United States during the Vietnam War. “In 1972, at the first Earth summit in Stockholm, the Swedish Prime Minister at the time, Olof Palme, for the first time used the term” ecocide “to condemn the American actions, recalls
Valérie Cabanes, jurist in international law and co-founder of
Our business to all. Ten countries have since incorporated the crime of ecocide into their criminal law. Vietnam was the first, in 1990, still in connection with Agent Orange, then Russia and eight countries of the former Soviet bloc to protect themselves, in the future, against
the traumatic nuclear tests carried out by the USSR in these countries. “
The accumulation of scientific reports – including the provisional one from the IPCC, no later than Wednesday – to warn about the consequences of climate change and the erosion of biodiversity is now pushing other countries to consider integrating the crime of ecocide in their right. “Law proposals have been tabled in Belgium, Portugal, Sweden, Brazil, Bolivia, France [lire encadré] », List Jojo Metha, president of Stop Ecocide.
“Encourage us to better understand our place in the living world”
This does not take away from the imperative of making ecocide a new crime in international law, according to Stop Ecocide. The stake is not only to continue the serious damage to the environment. “It is also to push us to better understand our place in the living world and our responsibilities towards it,” adds Jojo Metha.
We still have to find the right legal definition of ecocide. It is this work which occupied, from January to June, the panel of jurists. Beyond this little “e” in article 5, their proposal includes the addition of a paragraph in the current preamble of the Rome Statute: “concerned that the environment is threatened daily with destruction and deterioration devastating events seriously endangering natural and human systems around the world ”. “There is already a crime of serious damage to the environment during an armed conflict, but when the treaty was drafted in the 1990s, the choice was made to rule out crimes against the environment in peacetime, begins Valérie Cabanes, the only Frenchwoman in the panel. This modification of the preamble would make it possible to recall this need to be concerned also with environmental crimes in peacetime. “
A definition where every word counts
The twelve jurists also submit a legal definition of the term “ecocide” to be added in article 8: “For the purposes of the present statute,” ecocide “means illegal or arbitrary acts committed knowing the real probability that these acts cause serious damage to the environment, whether widespread or lasting ”. A short sentence, again, but where each word has been weighed at length and the essential elements precisely defined in order to cover the widest possible spectrum.
An example with “unlawful or arbitrary”, while environmental damage is not always committed knowingly. “Today there are very few acts harmful to the environment which are recognized as” illegal “in international environmental law, explains Valérie Cabanes. The term “unlawful” thus refers to acts already prohibited by national laws. But to limit oneself to this qualifier is too restrictive if one wants to protect the environment on a global scale. With the mention “arbitrary acts”, it is also possible to recognize as a moral element of the crime the principle of knowledge, these acts being defined as those committed “in an imprudent manner and without taking into account the damages which would be clearly excessive with regard to the social advantages. and expected economic “”.
Even the definition of the term “environment” was thorny. “To date, there is no single definition, and the existing ones vary according to their scope, content and approach,” comments the panel. The one he proposes sees broad. “” Environment “means the Earth, its biosphere, [ensemble des organismes vivants] its cryosphere [ensemble des glaces à la surface du globe terrestre], its lithosphere [l’enveloppe rigide de la surface terre], its hydrosphere [l’eau], its atmosphere, as well as outer space ”, they specify.
Account for states ready to open discussions
It remains to be convinced the 124 member states of the ICC to examine this proposed definition at their General Assembly in December. Finally, this is not so much the issue. “It only takes one state to make the official request for the subject to be added to the Assembly’s agenda,” says Valérie Cabanes. At least eight countries have publicly expressed their willingness to do so, already counting Stop Ecocide. Including France.
But two steps remain to be taken. On the one hand, “it is good that this request officially emanates from a block of influential states in order to hope that negotiations begin after the Assembly of States Parties decides, by the majority of its members present and voting, to take up the proposal or not, ”continues Valérie Cabanes. On the other hand, “for this amendment to be voted on, it will be necessary to obtain a two-thirds majority, or about 82 States parties to the ICC,” continues Valérie Cabanes.
For the past year, diplomatic work has thus been carried out, in particular by the International Parliamentary Alliance for the Recognition of Ecocide, launched by the MEP
Marie Toussaint, to ensure the support of a maximum of States.
Integration still far from being won?
Either way, the process of integrating the crime of ecocide into the Rome Statute could take several years. “There is also the risk that the definition escapes us in the negotiations,” adds Valérie Cabanes. Clearly, that States are working to reduce its scope ”. Deja vu in international negotiations, in particular on environmental issues.