A Comparative Review on Crimes Against the Environment

28.01.2023

When people think about what ecocide is, they need help understanding what is essential for people's lives. Ecocide meaning is the "destruction of large areas of the natural environment as a consequence of human activity". Globalizing and greenhouse warming, it becomes a huge problem nowadays. Many countries try to gather to solve this problem, but education is necessary. They have a solution which is regulation, and it is a crime against the environment.

Some countries take this issue seriously and have regulated it in their domestic law; these countries respectively: France (2021), Georgia (1999), Armenia (2003), Ukraine (2001), Belarus (1999), Ecuador (2008; 2014), Kazakhstan (1997), Kyrgyzstan (1997), Moldova (2002), Russia (1996), Tajikistan (1998), Uzbekistan (1994), Vietnam (1990). In this respect, countries regulate ecocide in administrative law. Thus it doesn't take seriously due to this isn't a crime. 

Turkish authorities regulated this problem in the Penal Code of Turkey, which was the first attempt to control crime against the environment[1]. These crimes were, respectively:

  • Deliberately polluting the environment (art. 181)
  • Polluting the environment by negligence (art. 182)
  • Causing noise (art. 183)
  • Causing zoning pollution (art. 184)

Everyone has the right to live in a healthy environment. Regulation in the Penal Code can't be enough to have a healthy environment because it wasn't an inclusive and punitive measure. If we want a healthy environment, we shouldn't punish after it happens. The code should be preventive and persuasive, and it should be filled by criminal justice.

Examining how the International Criminal Court evaluates this situation scope of international law is necessary. Crime against environment does not contain such a crime in the statute of Rome, which is the founding document of the International Criminal Court. The court prosecutes four crimes: genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and crimes of aggression. The word environment is mentioned only once in the context of war crimes[2]. And that doesn't match the meaning of the word we're discussing.

A broader Interpretation is used to find a suitable place for this crime. Crimes against humanity under the Roman statute are committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population with knowledge of the attack. Ecocide is killing the world, and within a broader interpretation, ecocide is destroying humanity, so it should accept crimes against humanity by authorities. Due to this reason, ICC published a policy paper in 2016[3]. In the 2016 Policy Paper, a platform was created to increase the deliberate damage to the environment to the level of human rights violations. It was a massive attempt to prosecute crimes against the environment under crimes against humanity. 

Hereof we can give an example from French Authorities. The parliament accepted ecocide as a crime and aimed to deal with severe and permanent pollution problems of water, air, and soil.

In conclusion, our domestic and international laws couldn't be enough to disrupt ecocide in the world. At least the countries signed the Rome Statue concert to amend the treaty about environmental crimes.


[1] Turkish Penal Code, https://www.mevzuat.gov.tr/mevzuatmetin/1.5.5237.pdf, (Last Accessed: 25.01.2023)

[2] Hasting Enviromental Law Journal, Crafting a Standard: Environmental Crimes as Crimes Against Humanity Under the International Criminal Court, Jessica Durney https://repository.uchastings.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1428&context=hastings_environmental_law_journal (Last Accessed: 25.01.2023)

[3] Policy Paper by ICC,  20160915_OTP-Policy_Case-Selection_Eng.pdf (icc-cpi.int) (Last Accessed 25.01.2023)


Tagged with: Ecocide, International Criminal Court, Penal Code, Environmental Law, Human Rights

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