Culminating in Vanuatu’s long-anticipated proposal to amend Article 5 of the Rome Statute with a new international crime last September, the burgeoning ecocide conversation has recently reached new heights. Various jurisdictions, including Belgium and the European Union, have passed ecocide-inspired environmental criminal laws in past months. A freshly launched Ecocide Law Advisory, composed of several legal experts and parliamentarians, has elaborated a Manual on the National Criminalisation of Ecocide to assist countries in implementing the revamped EU Environmental Crime Directive and/or drafting penal reforms. The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) Office of the Prosecutor is expected to release a new Policy on Environmental Crimes any day now, while political momentum for the proposed Rome Statute amendment seems to be building behind the scenes.
Climate Change
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Africa’s Turn: The African Court’s Advisory Opinion on Climate Change
On 2 May 2025, the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights (AfCHPR, the Court) received a request for an advisory opinion concerning the obligations of states in the context of climate change. This development was anticipated: as early as 2023, there were indications such a request was in preparation (at 54:30) and, that same year, the…
From Extraterritorial Obligations to Aggravated Responsibility: How Regional Human Rights Courts Could Shape the ICJ Advisory Opinion on Climate Change
In March 2023, the United Nations General Assembly requested an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on states’ responsibilities under international law to protect the climate system for current and future generations. The Court’s Opinion is expected to clarify the content and scope of human rights obligations and their implications for state…
Critical Minerals, Environmental Harm and the Unspoken Rights of Nature: The Kafue River Spill in Zambia
The global demand for critical minerals has intensified as part of the clean energy transition in line with goals outlined in the Paris Agreement. The environmental costs of extracting and processing these minerals, however, are increasingly borne by mineral-rich but ecologically and socially vulnerable regions. The 2024 Guiding Principles on Critical Energy…
Green Court – South Korean Constitutional Court Rules Landmark Climate Judgement
In February 2025, the South Korean government promised a long-term plan to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, whereas previous plans were limited to 2030. In this post, I examine how a court case considering the United Nations (UN) Framework Convention on Climate Change influenced this shift. The Constitutional Court’s ruling in D.H. Kim et al v Korea on…
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