The ‘ecocide’ slips into it Parliament. The term used to refer to serious, conscious and lasting damage inflicted to the environment enters the parliamentary agenda with the aim of beginning the journey to be typified as crime at Penal Code and become the fifth international crimeon the tail of genocide, war crimes, aggression and crimes against humanity.
As EL PERIÓDICO has learned, the cup will present an initiative so that “any illicit or arbitrary act perpetrated knowing that there is a substantial probability that it will cause serious damage that is extensive or lasting to the environment & rdquor; be sorry. The plan is that the Catalan Chamber Table process this document so that it can be voted on in plenary session of the Parlament which, if approved, would pass the ball to the Table of the Congress of Deputies for the groups to position themselves on whether to carry out a modification of the Penal Code to add ‘ecocide’ as a crime.
“We want the Parliament to be the one to take the initiative to make it effective,” says the coupero deputy Dani Cornella in statements to this newspaper. “The ‘ecocide’ must be a very serious crime to which one must respond with reviewable permanent prison, depending on the affectation, so that it is repaired with compensation to the victims – at least, the equivalent to the benefits obtained by the damage – and with the restoration in the natural environment”, he emphasizes.
The CUP is also pressing for Spain to join Vanuatu and the Maldiveswho have already shown their support for the International Criminal Court (CPI) includes ‘ecocide’ as a crime, an option that Belgium, Finland and France they also see with good eyes. United We Can He promoted a non-law proposal in the ecological transition commission in this direction and Junts led another in the congressional foreign affairs commission.
The Rome Statute
“The civil route is quickly exhausted with the payment of fines, but what is required is that it be a criminal offense, with criminal prosecution,” says the director of the Stop Ecocide campaign in Spain, Maite Mompo. “One of the great incentives for this crime to be judged at the ICC is that, as judge individuals, can put those who make decisions in companies that damage the environment on the defendant’s bench,” he adds. Mompó stresses that classifying ‘ecocide’ as a crime is already a dissuasive measure.
The goal is to reformulate the founding document of the ICC, the Rome Statute, so that the leaders of the countries and public or private companies (their directors or shareholders) can be sentenced, thus recognizing that damage to the environment is a “flagrant crime against all & rdquor; with socioeconomic derivatives, “beyond the purely environmental aspects”. To reform the Rome Statute, the support of two thirds of the States (there are 123 in total) and subsequent ratification in each country.
Europe and Spain
The European Parliament has already taken a stand on this matter. In two reports, one from the Legal Affairs Committee and the other from the Foreign Affairs Committee, published in March and April 2021, it is “encouraged & rdquor; the European Union and its Member States to adopt a “bold initiative & rdquor; to “fight against impunity for perpetrators of environmental crimes on a global scale and pave the way within the ICC towards new negotiations between the parties with a view to recognizing ‘ecocide’ as an international crime within the framework of the Statute of Rome & rdquor ;.
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The position of the Government of Spain is known through a written response to a question signed by a deputy of More Country. “There is no doubt that nature is a legal asset that deserves the maximum protection of the international community. […] On the other hand, the universality of the ICC it must also constitute a fundamental priority & rdquor ;, believes the Government, noting that there must be “widespread support from the States parties & rdquor; because, otherwise, “this would result in a fragmentation of the criminal law that is the jurisdiction of the ICC, and could even lead to a weakening of it”.
“We are involved in a unprecedented environmental crisis, with climate change, biodiversity loss and massive pollution. And this must be cut with laws and it must be done now & rdquor ;, ditch Mompó.