Year XXXVII, Number 3, November 2024

Vanuatu, Fiji, and Samoa, three small Pacific countries particularly at risk from an environmental perspective, recently requested the International Criminal Court to recognize ecocide, that is, the determination of serious, widespread, and persistent damage to the natural environment, as an international crime. The request highlights the Court's possible role in building a global legal order, without which none of humanity's great common problems, from peace to environmental security, can be truly addressed and solved. The Court, established in 2002, has specific jurisdiction over genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and crimes of aggression, and is the only permanent court in existence that can prosecute individuals (not just states like the International Court of Justice) for these crimes. The Court, whose Attorney General Karim Khan recently called for the arrest of some Hamas leaders, Israeli President Netanyahu, and his government's defense minister for the ongoing massacres in the Middle East war, is not a UN body but currently includes 123 countries of the world. Even with its obvious limitations (decisive countries such as the United States, China, Russia and Israel are not members and refuse its jurisdiction), it is therefore to some extent legitimized and representative from an international perspective. Through its Prosecutor's Office, the Court can issue international arrest warrants and subpoenas, the enforcement of which is left to member states.

The problem of the enforceability of international criminal law, as well as its legitimacy, is one of the major problems facing the international community. The recognition of the crime of ecocide could be a significant opportunity to help address this fundamental challenge operationally (gb)