Description
In September 2024, Vanuatu, Fiji and Samoa formally introduced an amendment to the Rome Statute, aimed at adding ecocide to the list of international crimes falling under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The submission marks a new high point in the history of efforts to establish a new international crime of ecocide; one, which, over the last few years, has gained prominence in diverse contexts such as the Association of Small Island States, the Russia-Ukraine war, the European Union, and the Council of Europe. This raises a range of questions, not least how diplomatic negotiations on ecocide will unfold, and its relationship to broader issues of global environmental politics. In addition to potentially being the first new crime to be added to the Rome Statute since the founding of the ICC, its ongoing process of international criminalization is also notable for being driven by a global social movement, Stop Ecocide International. This roundtable draws together scholars with an interest in ecocide from both international relations and international law to reflect on these developments, examine the consequences of ecocide’s unique path to international criminalization, and to situate this within wider global relations of power.
