Vanuatu, Fiji and Samoa want international criminal court to class environmental destruction as crime alongside genocide
Three developing countries have taken the first steps towards transforming the world’s response to climate breakdown and environmental destruction by making ecocide a punishable criminal offence.
In a submission to the international criminal court on Monday, they propose a change in the rules to recognise “ecocide” as a crime alongside genocide and war crimes.
If successful, the change could allow for the prosecution of individuals who have brought about environmental destruction, such as the heads of large polluting companies, or heads of state.
My understanding is that the overall argument for international law is not primarily its enforceability, but the definition of norms that let states pressure each other in a particular direction.
Note also that the US has never recognized the ICC to begin with.
But the US is not the only player. EU countries tend to also pollute a lot but also tend to be more international law oriented. This then reverberates in many other parts of the world.
In all, don’t expect the crime of ecocide to cause heads to roll and don’t put too much faith in it, but also don’t underestimate it’s value as a political tool.