UN Civil Society Forum recommends international crime of ecocide

Summary:

• The People’s Pact for the Future, a set of recommendations created through extensive consultations with global civil society to guide the United Nations in tackling the world’s most pressing challenges, has proposed that ecocide be criminalised as a standalone offence under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

• The Pact calls for the recognition of ecocide as an international crime in two key areas: in its recommendations for transforming global governance and in its proposals for enhancing international peace and security.

• The People’s Pact has been formulated as part of the preparations for the Summit of the Future 2024, a United Nations conference established by Secretary General Antonio Guterres with the aim of improving multilateral cooperation on the world’s most pressing issues and emergencies and enhancing states adherence to their international commitments.

• The People’s Pact was formulated by Coalition for the UN We Need, an open forum for civil society, which aims to improve the United Nations system towards ‘inclusive, people-centred mulit-lateralism’. 

• The inclusion of ecocide law in the People’s Pact was, in part, due to the advocacy efforts of Legal Pact for the Future - an NGO working to link individuals, NGOs, businesses and governments to promote rights for people and nature, and courts to enforce them.

You can read the People’s Pact for the Future in full here.