Imagine my surprise when a journalist called me a year ago to ask for my comment on the news that
a law of Ecocide had been considered an international crime over 15 years ago. All we had was one document that referred to 3 countries who had objected to it being included as Crime Against Peace.
Today we have a paper trail that takes us back to 1972. The call to make Ecocide an international crime is nothing new - over 7,000 people took to the streets in Stockholm in 1972 to demand that ecocide be a crime. It was the time of the Vietnam War and world leaders had met in Stockholm to resolve environmental issues at an international level for the first time. At the same time, The People's Forum brought together some of the top experts of the day to discuss ecocide.
Fast forward a decade; 1985 saw the flame of the Law of Ecocide burn brightly again. Most significantly was the draft
Code of Crimes Against the Peace and Security of Mankind(precursor to the Rome Statute) which included Ecocide. For a further 11 years the United Nations partook in concerted debate, discussion and research - one researcher even drafted the
Ecocide Convention. What happened next is set out in the research paper,
Ecocide is the Missing 5th Crime Against Peace.Launched last week by
The Human Rights Consortium at the School of Advanced Studies, University of London,
The Ecocide Project will continue to unravel the question as to why it was shelved. Dr Damien Short, who has just taken up the post of Director of the
Human Rights Consortium said "the paper provides a foundation of understanding on which we must build; there is more vital work to be done." The report draws attention to the preamble of the draft
Ecocide Convention, where there is the explicit recognition that Ecocide is not always a crime of intent - and that Ecocide is caused in both times of war and peace.
These are words that have just as much relevance today as they did when they were written in the draft
Ecocide Convention in 1973:
"
Man has consciously and unconsciously inflicted irreparable damage to the environment in times of war and peace."
My dream is for a world of peace, a world where mass damage and destruction no longer exists. I believe we can live in peaceful enjoyment where both people and planet are put first.
Like the name of the
research paper,
Ecocide is the missing 5th Crime Against Peace - just imagine; when we close the door to mass damage and destruction a new door will open. When it does close, our world of conflict will end. What will open is the door to the world of peace.
In peace,
Polly
Polly Higgins is a lawyer, barrister and the author of Eradicating Ecocide and Earth is our Business. Polly proposed to the United Nations the law of Ecocide be the 5th Crime Against Peace.See here for more information on The Ecocide Project and to download the research paper; you can read more about the law of Ecocide at www.eradicatingecocide.comIn the news:
Ecocide Project reveals unseen documents
