Agreement in Europe to punish crimes against nature:ecocide will be a crime

Following long and detailed negotiations, the European institutions have finally sanctioned an agreement which provides for the inclusion of the concept of ecocide - that is, crimes at the expense of marine and terrestrial ecosystems, their flora and fauna and the resulting impact on climate and communities – in community law.Although "ecocide" has not yet been formally classified as an international crime, the European Commission, the European Council and the European Parliament have united around a text which, through a lexical and legal trick, opens the way to a timely accountability of the perpetrators of environmental crimes.In fact, an infringement defined as "qualified" has been introduced which, as stated in the text, aims to allow the most serious crimes to be prosecuted, i.e. "extensive environmental pollution, industrial accidents or serious fires, which are considered covered by the crime in a form comparable to the crime of ecocide as it is embodied in international law".

Last March the European Parliament approved an initial text that aimed at recognizing the crime of ecocide, but the situation immediately bogged down, leading to a halt in negotiations.Then, at the push of the Spanish Presidency of the Council, the EU institutions were able to put hand to one compromise solution which satisfied the actors involved.In its first version, the directive focused on the sector of hazardous waste, radioactive materials and illegal wildlife trade, while now its scope also covers other activities, such as water extraction, recycling, ship pollution and ozone destruction, “imported deforestation” and mercury trade, but not including, at least to date, fishing, export of toxic waste or fraud in the carbon market.They will be able to result from the new legislation prison sentences to 10 years for people or representatives of companies who are guilty of environmental crimes that lead to death and sentences of 8 years for "qualified" crimes, while other cases provide for a maximum limit of 5 years.Also appearing are heavy fines:companies held responsible for these crimes could incur in sanctions of up to 5% of their turnover globally (although EU states will have the possibility to choose a sanction rate between 3 and 5% or in any case opt for fixed fines of 24-40 million euros).

The WWF welcomed the implementation of the agreement, whose Office for European Policies praised the "high integrity” and the “general ambition” of the final compromise text.“The crime recognized for the most serious crimes is very close to that of the international committee of jurists on ecocide,” he said. declared Marie Toussaint – French Green MP who was part of the Parliament's negotiating group -, who indicated the next move to close the circle in the modification of the statute of the International Criminal Court, in which European states are represented with 20% of the members.Last year, a working group of international lawyers and lawyers gathered in the coalition Stop Ecocide International has developed one legal definition of ecocide, asking precisely that the crime be added to the crimes dealt with by the International Criminal Court in The Hague together with war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocides.

[by Stefano Baudino]