About Youth for Ecocide Law
Youth for Ecocide Law (Y4EL) is the youth constituency within the global movement to recognise ecocide as the fifth international crime at the International Criminal Court. Founded in 2021, Y4EL operates under Stop Ecocide International and unites youth advocates across Europe, Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Oceania. It translates legal and policy debates on ecocide into accessible campaigns, webinars, and creative material, and sustains a global network dedicated to environmental justice.
Context
World Environment Day 2026 arrives at a moment when international environmental law moves faster than at any point in the last decade. On 18 April 2026, Mauritius criminalised ecocide through section 135A of its Environment Act, with penalties of up to ten years' imprisonment. Mauritius joins a growing list of jurisdictions that have moved to criminalise severe environmental destruction. The Vanuatu, Fiji, and Samoa proposal to add ecocide as the fifth crime under the Rome Statute, formally tabled in September 2024, now sits before the ICC Working Group on Amendments. The 2025 ICJ and IACtHR advisory opinions confirm that states carry binding obligations to prevent severe environmental harm.
Africa and Small Island Developing States lead the way. At the 20th African Ministerial Conference on the Environment in 2025, governments named ecocide a continental priority for 2025 to 2027. At the UN Africa Summit in July 2025, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo, Burundi, Ghana, Zambia, and Zimbabwe advanced their alignment with ecocide law through domestic or diplomatic pathways. The DRC’s 2024 endorsement of the Pacific-led ICC proposal opened the door to broader African engagement. Pacific Small Island Developing States continue to anchor the international track.
Multiple legal frontiers now converge. The Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change and World Youth for Climate Justice campaigns drove the ICJ Advisory Opinion process from the start, and the UN General Assembly adopted the founding resolution by consensus for the first time. The First International Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels, held in Santa Marta in April 2026, drew 57 countries and signalled the road to a binding fossil fuel treaty. The High Seas Treaty entered into force on 17 January 2026, with the first Conference of the Parties to follow. Criminal law sits at the intersection of these processes.
Objectives
This webinar brings together a keynote address and youth voices from Africa, Latin America, and Europe on the day the international community sets aside to protect the planet. The webinar aims to:
• Hear directly from Jojo Mehta on the latest institutional, diplomatic, and legislative advances in the movement to criminalise ecocide.
• Connect the keynote to youth perspectives on recent breakthroughs from advocates within the Y4EL network, drawing on legal, regional, and intergovernmental perspectives.
• Launch the call for the 2027 Y4EL Core Team and invite young advocates to join the movement.
Speakers
Jojo Mehta, Co-Founder & CEO, Stop Ecocide International
Samira Ben Ali, World Youth for Climate Justice; European Climate Pact Ambassador, Mayotte/France
Thomas Csillag Finger, Stop Ecocide Student Ambassador, Brazil
Guillaume Kalonji, Y4EL Africa; Stop Ecocide International, DRC
Debbie Buyaki, Y4EL Co-Lead and Co-Founder, Y4EL Africa, Kenya
Niccolò Delporto, Y4EL Core Team Member, Italy