Ecocide Law Advice Initiative

As part of its work to promote new national and international laws on ecocide, Climate Counsel has established the Ecocide Law Advice Initiative.

This new body provides State actors, businesses, and civil society with technical legal advice on the substantive, procedural and practical aspects of ecocide law. Working with the Stop Ecocide Foundation and the Promise Institute for Human Rights Europe, this dedicated legal advisory service, provides clarity and understanding in this novel and complex area of criminal law.

 

  • Ultimately, the work of the Ecocide Law Advice Initiative will help encourage States to support a new international crime of ecocide and/or enact ecocide legislation on a national level. It will help civil society monitor and legally ‘frame’ actions to protect the environment. And it will help businesses conform to the new legal landscape.

  • All interested stakeholders, helping them support the amendment of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (“ICC”) to add ecocide as the ‘fifth international crime’. This includes advice on the substantive law, the potential consequences to states, and the procedural aspects of the ICC’s amendment process.

    State actors: to help develop, enact, and implement effective ecocide legislation at the national level.

    Businesses: on how to conform to new international and national ecocide laws.

    Civil society: on how to monitor the compliance with new international and national ecocide laws.goes here

Advice and Support Provided To Date

  • EU Greens/EFA: Climate Counsel has supported MEPs to include ecocide in the EU’s Revised Environmental Crimes Directive

  • PSOL (Brazil): Climate Counsel provided technical legal advice on the drafting of a bill submitted by PSOL, currently being considered by the Brazilian congress

  • Ukrainian Office of the Prosecutor: We are providing advice regarding how to make best use of Ukraine’s existing ecocide law and advantages of supporting an international law of ecocide

  • Belgian Green Party: We supported lawmakers with the development of a national ecocide law

  • French Green Party: We provided advice on the phrasing of novel ecocide laws

  • International Parliamentary Alliance for the Recognition of Ecocide: We provided technical advice on the implications of supporting ecocide law

  • Icelandic Pirate Party: Climate Counsel provided detailed technical advice on the drafting of a national ecocide bill

Climate Counsel’s Richard Rogers speaks to the United for Nature, United for Justice Conference on environmental war crimes and ecocide. Kyiv, 2023

Key Breakthrough:

Ecocide Definition

On Tuesday 22nd June 2021, the Stop Ecocide foundation released the long-awaited definition of ‘ecocide’, put together by a panel of jurists, including Richard Rogers, Executive Director of Climate Counsel:

To read the full commentary on the definition click here.

Key Resource:

Climate Counsel’s partners in the Ecocide Law Advice Initiative, Promise Institute for Human Rights Europe, have created a fantastic online resource for detailed information on existing and proposed ecocide laws.

Find out more about ecocide laws around the world below:

Key breakthrough:

Brazilian Ecocide Bill Introduced

Climate Counsel is delighted to announce that on World Environment Day 2023 the Brazilian political party PSOL (Partido Socialismo e Liberdade) will submit a new Ecocide Bill to the Brazilian Congress.

Over the last year, Climate Counsel had the privilege to work with PSOL, Ecoe Brasil, Observatório do Clima, Stop Ecocide International, International Rivers, and other groups to develop and promote a national law of ecocide in Brazil.

Based on its experience in assisting lawmakers in the European Union and other countries, Climate Counsel researched and helped to draft the Ecocide Bill that is being submitted by PSOL.

What the lawyers say:

Paulo Busse, Climate Counsel’s Lead Lawyer who helped draft the Ecocide Bill:

“This Ecocide Bill was designed to offer much greater protection to the Amazon and other biomes in Brazil, which are under constant threat. In doing so, the law would offer much-needed support to the indigenous and traditional communities who rely on the natural environment for their way of life and who serve as its guardians.”

Richard J Rogers, Climate Counsel’s Executive Director:

“Ecocide laws have the potential to prevent the worst cases of environmental destruction and help tackle the climate crisis.  By submitting the Ecocide Bill, Brazil’s PSOL has shown that it is on the side of future generations. Brazil’s Government and Congress should now get on board.”     

 

Ecocide Experts

The Ecocide Law Advice Initiative benefits from a pool of ecocide experts from around the world, including:

 

Kate Mackintosh, Executive Director, Promise Institute for Human Rights UCLA

Kate Mackintosh was Deputy Co-Chair of the Independent Expert Panel for the Legal Definition of Ecocide.  Kate heads the Promise Institute Working Group on the use of International Criminal Law to Protect the Environment. The Promise Institute, along with Stop Ecocide International, manages the Ecocide Law hub.  She is on the Supervisory Board of Climate Counsel.

 
 

Paulo Busse, Brazilian Human Rights Lawyer

Paulo Busse is a Brazilian lawyer with over 20 years’ experience advising and representing human rights and environmental organisations. In collaboration with other lawyers, he has spearheaded a number of cutting-edge legal actions to protect the environment in Brazilian courts and advised on national ecocide laws.

 
 

Jojo Mehta, Executive Director, Stop Ecocide Foundation

Jojo Mehta co-founded Stop Ecocide International (SEI) in 2017, alongside barrister and legal pioneer the late Polly Higgins, to support the establishment of ecocide as a crime at the International Criminal Court. She is Chair of the charitable Stop Ecocide Foundation and convenor of the Independent Expert Panel for the Legal Definition of Ecocide. SEI, along with the Promise Institute for Human Rights, manages the Ecocide Law hub.

 
 

Darryl Robinson, Professor of Law, Queen’s University, Canada

Darryl Robinson is a Full Professor of Law at Queen’s University, Faculty of Law.  As a Canadian State delegate during the Rome Statute negotiations, he was closely involved in drafting the definition of current international crimes. He is a key member of the Promise Institute Working Group on the use of International Criminal Law to Protect the Environment and publishes widely on legal issues relating to ecocide. 

 
 

Kristin Rosella, Corporate Complicity Expert and Lawyer, Climate Counsel

Kristin Rosella is a US lawyer with 15 years of experience advising and representing multinational corporations and survivors of mass atrocities and human rights abuses. With co-counsel in France, she is spearheading a case against a French bank for alleged financial crimes and complicity in genocide, crimes against humanity, and torture. 

 
 

Richard J Rogers, Executive Director, Climate Counsel

Richard Rogers was Deputy Co-Chair of the Independent Expert Panel for the Legal Definition of Ecocide. He has provided advice on ecocide laws to Green Party MEPs at the EU level, and to parliamentarians from several states at the national level.