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What brings together Ukraine and Vanuatu? Sadly, it's ecocide

“Vanuatu and Ukraine are united in their calls for a law which applies to all such environmental damage, wherever and whenever it occurs. 

This deters polluters from causing destruction in the first place and ensures that those who do can be brought to justice.”

By Maksym Popov and Ambassador Odo Tevi for Euronews, 26/03/2024

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In Conversation: Stop Ecocide Co-Founder Jojo Mehta

“Jojo Mehta spoke to Anna Ackermann, a policy analyst at the International Institute for Sustainable Development, about the cultural contexts of adding the fifth international crime to the Rome Statute, the impact of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on the legal discourse around ecocide, and the significance of the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam.”

By Anna Ackermann for London Ukrainian Review, 04/03/2024

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EU Council passes new ecocide rules, but what does that mean?

“The historic vote from the EU to include ecocide-level crimes in its revised crime directive shows leadership and compassion, and will strongly reinforce existing environmental laws across the region,’ said Jojo Mehta, Co-Founder and CEO of Stop Ecocide International. ‘It will establish a clear moral as well as legal “red line”, creating an essential steer for European industry leaders and policy-makers going forward.”

By Martin Guttridge-Hewitt for Environment Journal, 28/02/2024

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‘Revolutionary’: EU Parliament votes to criminalise most serious cases of ecosystem destruction

“The European Union has become the first international body to criminalise the most serious cases of environmental damage that are “comparable to ecocide”.

Ecosystem destruction, including habitat loss and illegal logging, will be punished with tougher penalties and prison sentences under the EU’s updated environmental crime directive.”


By Mette Mølgaard Henriksen for Euronews, 27/02/2024

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Belgium becomes first in EU to recognise ecocide as international crime

“With prominent voices like that of Belgium leading the way, tangible progress is being made internationally, particularly so in Europe following last November’s agreement to include ecocide-level crimes in the EU’s revised environmental crimes directive. I have no doubt we will see international recognition of the crime of ecocide in the near future.” - Jojo Mehta

By Maïthé Chini for The Brussels Times, 23/02/2024

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Our Common Heritage: the Role of Ecocide Law

“A new crime of ecocide, a preventative and all-encompassing framework, can rectify an existing taboo in international environmental regulation: the most serious destructions of nature are morally reprehensible and thus criminally liable acts. Ecocide law therefore holds significant potential to usher in a new era of environmental governance that can ensure exacting protection for nature, on Earth and in outer space.”

By Anna Madrick for Eco-nnect, 11/02/2024

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EU Tackles ‘Ecocide’ in Landmark Moment for Environmentalism

Advocates are hailing the legislation as a landmark moment for global environmentalism, and especially the Stop Ecocide movement, which seeks to move legal enforcement of the most serious environmental crimes from the civil into the criminal arena – and thus reframe egregious destruction of nature as more akin to crimes against people.

By Trevor Bach for US News, 02/02/2024

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Robin Gairdner Robin Gairdner

Ecocidio y lucha por la biodiversidad’, en el Hay Festival de Cartagena de Indias: Philipe Sands, Rebecca Solnit, Brigitte Baptiste y Eliane Brum, conversan sobre la biodiversidad y los retos frente al medio ambiente. 28/01/2024

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Scotland leading the conversation in move for 'ecocide' laws, says top campaigner

Jojo Mehta, CEO of the group Stop Ecocide International, said Scotland is now at “the forefront of the global conversation” on criminalising ecocide - a term to describe severe types of environmental destruction.

It comes as Scottish Labour MSP Monica Lennon is consulting on groundbreaking proposals for an Ecocide Bill in Scotland.

By Dan Vevers for the Daily Record, 20/01/2024

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Ambientalistas y juristas sostienen que el concepto de ecocidio debería ser punible en la Corte Penal Internacional para hacer frente a los crímenes contra el medioambiente. 18/01/2024

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Robin Gairdner Robin Gairdner

The term “ecocide” first emerged during the Vietnam War, used to describe the destructive environmental consequences of the defoliant Agent Orange. After featuring in United Nations talks during the following decades, by 1998, ecocide had been proposed as an international crime against peace in a draft of the Rome Statute, the treaty that created the ICC.

By Fermín Koop for Diálogo Chino, 16/01/2024

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There is "a clear legislative direction of travel" in several national jurisdictions, at a regional level in the European Union and even at a global level, where progress is made "towards the recognition of #ecocide ."

By EuroNews, 15/01/2024

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Robin Gairdner Robin Gairdner

While several climate activists have been sent to prison for their involvement in disruptive protests, legislation is now also being strengthened to impose criminal sanctions on individuals found responsible for large-scale environmental damage.

By Claudia De Meulemeester for SustainableViews, 11/01/2024

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Ecocide law gives us the opportunity to bridge the gap between what existing legal instruments can achieve and what the science is telling us must be done.

By Professor Kristin Vala Ragnarsdóttir and Professor Eleanor Sharpston KC for Ecologist, 20/12/2023

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Robin Gairdner Robin Gairdner

Humans have this deep separation from nature, that gives us a kind of cultural inability to recognize the severity of what it means when we harm the natural world. We have a large number of environmental laws around the world, and what we’re seeing is that they’re not effective or adequate to address global, ecological, and climate crisis.

By Matthew Green for DeSmog, 8/12/2023

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The Scottish Government has been urged to show “much-need global leadership” at COP28 and harness its work on loss and damage into efforts to tackle ecocide.

The appeal comes after delegates unexpectedly agreed to set up a global loss and damage fund on the first day of COP28 in Dubai, with at least $400m pledged so far.

By David Bol for The Herald, 1/12/2023

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