The Model Ecocide Law for Latin America is now in its final stage following a rigorous consultation process, with legal experts convening to formulate the final draft at a conference in Mexico City.
This is a critical milestone. For lawmakers across Latin America, the Model Ecocide Law is set to offer a ready-made foundation for legislation that will criminalise the gravest harms to nature.
What is the Model Ecocide Law for Latin America?
In 2021, an Independent Expert Panel formulated a fully workable international legal definition of Ecocide. This definition formed the basis of the 2024 formal proposal by Vanuatu, Fiji and Samoa to amend the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
However, for this legal concept to be effective in the civil law systems of Latin America, it is not enough to transpose the international definition; it must be adapted to respect the principles of continental law. This has given rise to the initiative to formulate a Model Ecocide Law for Latin American countries.
The Model Law follows in the footsteps of initiatives like UNCITRAL's Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration and the Latin American and Caribbean Parliament (PARLATINO)’s model laws, offering parliaments a reference text they can adopt in full or adapt to their own context.
The technical and legal reference point that a model law provides can strengthen future legislative initiatives across the region, tackle impunity for the most serious destruction of ecosystems, and ensure that ecocide can be effectively prosecuted and penalised.
The development of this Model Law involves three phases: a regional public consultation, technical roundtables, and a final drafting conference in Mexico City.
The Model Law initiative is the product of a collaboration between Stop Ecocide International, Asociación de Investigadores de Derecho Penal Ambiental y Climático (AIDPAC), Centro Mexicano de Derecho Ambiental (CEMDA), Iberoamerican University (Mexico City), Centro Transdisciplinar Universitario para la Sustentabilidad (CENTRUS) and Alianza de Clínicas Jurídicas Ambientales.
Learn more about the Model Ecocide Law here.
Speakers:
Dr Ricardo Alberto Ortega Soriano – Head of the Department of Law, Universidad Iberoamericana
Dr Alejandra Elizondo Cordero – Director of Centrus, Universidad Iberoamericana
Jojo Mehta – CEO of Stop Ecocide International
Gustavo Alanís – Executive Director of CEMDA
Miguel Ángel Asturias – Director of AIDPAC (via video link)
Andrea Domínguez – Representative of the Alliance of Environmental Legal Clinics
Moderators:
Raúl Gutiérrez - Centrus, Universidad Iberoamericana
Jorge Peláez - Law Department, Universidad Iberoamericana