DRC President Reaffirms Country’s Support for International Crime of Ecocide at UN General Assembly
Summary:
In a landmark address to the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, President Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo of the Democratic Republic of the Congo reaffirmed his country’s formal support for recognising ecocide as a crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Speaking on 23 September 2025, the DRC President highlighted the critical importance of the Congo Basin, home to the world’s second-largest tropical rainforest and largest terrestrial carbon sink, saying:
“These vital resources are seriously threatened by destructive activities — deforestation, illegal exploitation, pollution — often fueled by recurring armed conflicts, which amount to veritable crimes against nature. This is why the Democratic Republic of Congo supports the initiative led by Vanuatu, Fiji and Samoa aimed at establishing, at the international level, ECOCIDE as an autonomous offense to sanction illicit or arbitrary acts causing serious damage to the environment.”
In October 2024, at the United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP16) in Cali, Colombia, the DRC first declared its support for the recognition of ecocide, becoming the first African nation to endorse the formal proposal led by Vanuatu, Fiji and Samoa, tabled in September 2024, to add ecocide to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
This call comes amid growing pan-African momentum. At the 20th African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) in Nairobi in July 2025, ministers formally agreed—under the impetus of the DRC—to include ecocide in Africa’s environmental priorities for the 2025–2027 biennium, marking the first time the issue has been explicitly recognised as a strategic continental concern by a UN forum. During their national statements, the Republic of Congo and Burundi joined the DRC in formally backing the recognition of ecocide as a crime, reinforcing Africa’s leadership in the global push to criminalise mass environmental destruction.
Patricia Willocq, Francophone Countries Director at Stop Ecocide International, said:
“His Excellency, President Tshisekedi’s announcement at the UN General Assembly marks a decisive moment in the global push to criminalise mass environmental destruction. It sends a powerful message that African leadership, building on the vision of Pacific Island states, is helping to reshape international law in defence of both people and planet.”
The full recording of H.E. Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s intervention at the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly can be found here.