ICC Deputy Prosecutor: ‘if Rome Statute was drafted today, would it include ecocide as a separate international crime?’
Summary
In a speech given on 27 May at the "Promise of International Law in the Face of Ecological Crises" conference in Amsterdam, organised by the UCLA Law Promise Institute Europe, the International Criminal Court (ICC)’s Deputy Prosecutor, Nazhat Shameem Khan, made a wide-ranging case for updating and adapting the existing international criminal law framework, including Rome Statute, to better protect the environment.
Khan offered, ‘The Rome Statute and international criminal law now face a challenge to their own relevance if they do not accept the need for such adaptation and flexibility in relation to the reality of the planet.’
Pointing to a growing trend in national and regional legal systems towards direct criminalisation of serious breaches resulting in the destruction of the environment, Khan highlighted that the global movement to secure ecocide law is ‘gaining momentum’. She praised the ‘important work’ of civil society in relation to ecocide law, citing the work of Stop Ecocide Foundation’s Independent Expert Panel.
Expanding on her theme of the Rome Statute being "a reflection of the legal imagination" of the time in which it was created, Khan remarked, "I wonder, if the Rome Statute was being drafted today, what would it look like? Would it include ecocide as a separate international crime?"
Khan emphasised that modification of the Rome Statute, including the creation of new offences, rests ‘in the hands of State Parties’ and made a call, in particular, for a greater number of climate-vulnerable Small Island States to ratify the Statute and ‘take a seat at the table’.
Regarding ongoing efforts to reform the ICC, the Deputy Prosecutor highlighted the Prosecutor’s Office recent public consultation on developing a policy initiative for the advancement of accountability for environmental crimes within the existing framework of the Rome Statute.
In the same conference, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, reaffirmed his support for the inclusion of ecocide law within the Rome Statute of the ICC.
You can read the full transcript of the Deputy Prosecutor’s speech here.