Fri, 20 Oct 2023 11:52:13 +1100
Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>
<https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/aug/26/growing-number-of-countries-consider-making-ecocide-crime>
"A growing number of countries are considering introducing laws to make ecocide
a crime.
Mexico is the latest country where politicians are seeking to deter
environmental damage – and to get justice for its victims – by criminalising
it. Karina Marlen Barrón Perales, congresswoman for Nuevo León, has submitted a
bill to the Mexican congress introducing a new crime of “ecocide”.
While damaging the environment is already an offence in most countries,
recognition of ecocide elevates the most egregious cases to a crime – with
accompanying penalties.
The new Mexican bill looks to criminalise “any unlawful or wanton act committed
with the knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either
widespread or long-term damage to the environment”. If passed, anyone found
guilty of ecocide could be jailed for up to 15 years and fined as much as 1,500
pesos (£70) a day.
The Mexican bill uses a definition of ecocide developed by an international
panel of legal experts in 2021. The definition was mainly intended to be
adopted by the international criminal court through an amendment to the Rome
statute – the key goal of the Stop Ecocide Foundation – but is now also being
used for national-level legislation.
Only a few states around the world have criminalised ecocide, including
Vietnam, Ukraine and Russia. Ukraine’s public prosecutor is already
investigating a possible case of ecocide against Russia for breaching the Nova
Kakhovka dam.
France became the first EU country to put ecocide into law in 2021, although
the wording is not as strong as campaigners had hoped for. A test case
involving carcinogenic chemicals is currently in the courts."
Via Future Crunch:
<https://futurecrunch.com/good-news-abortion-mexico-vaccine-indonesia-conservation-alaska/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
"A growing number of countries are considering introducing laws to make ecocide
a crime.
Mexico is the latest country where politicians are seeking to deter
environmental damage – and to get justice for its victims – by criminalising
it. Karina Marlen Barrón Perales, congresswoman for Nuevo León, has submitted a
bill to the Mexican congress introducing a new crime of “ecocide”.
While damaging the environment is already an offence in most countries,
recognition of ecocide elevates the most egregious cases to a crime – with
accompanying penalties.
The new Mexican bill looks to criminalise “any unlawful or wanton act committed
with the knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either
widespread or long-term damage to the environment”. If passed, anyone found
guilty of ecocide could be jailed for up to 15 years and fined as much as 1,500
pesos (£70) a day.
The Mexican bill uses a definition of ecocide developed by an international
panel of legal experts in 2021. The definition was mainly intended to be
adopted by the international criminal court through an amendment to the Rome
statute – the key goal of the Stop Ecocide Foundation – but is now also being
used for national-level legislation.
Only a few states around the world have criminalised ecocide, including
Vietnam, Ukraine and Russia. Ukraine’s public prosecutor is already
investigating a possible case of ecocide against Russia for breaching the Nova
Kakhovka dam.
France became the first EU country to put ecocide into law in 2021, although
the wording is not as strong as campaigners had hoped for. A test case
involving carcinogenic chemicals is currently in the courts."
Via Future Crunch:
<https://futurecrunch.com/good-news-abortion-mexico-vaccine-indonesia-conservation-alaska/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
