As Indigenous peoples face the deliberate destruction and loss of their ancestral lands—through deforestation, mining, oil exploitation, and other industrial activities that threaten their identity and, ultimately, their survival—it is essential to assess whether International Criminal Law (ICL) can provide effective protection to these peoples. In particular, this involves examining whether such acts could be classified as international crimes, such as crimes against humanity, genocide, or potentially ecocide, provided that the latter is formally recognized under the Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and/or incorporated into the criminal laws of various States. If the current legal framework proves insufficient, what measures can be taken to strengthen the protection of Indigenous peoples?…
International Environmental Law
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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…
Human Rights Protection of Non-Human Subjects from the Perspective of an ECtHR Judge
Editor’s note: This post is part of the EJIL:Talk! Symposium on 'Expanding Human Rights Protection to Non-Human Subjects? African, Inter-American and European Perspectives.' As is well known, unlike most other international human rights instruments, the European Convention of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, to give it its full title, and the Protocols thereto (hereafter, also…
Science, Technology, “Human” Dignity and Rules
Editor’s note: This post is part of the EJIL:Talk! Symposium on 'Expanding Human Rights Protection to Non-Human Subjects? African, Inter-American and European Perspectives.' As in previous industrial revolutions --bolstered by scientific discovery-- bold entrepreneurs seek to influence decision-makers and shape social and legal rules to achieve the precarious assembly of raw materials, energy, labour, and…
Emerging Animal Rights and Their Anthropo-, Zoo- and Ecocentric Justifications
Editor’s note: This post is part of the EJIL:Talk! Symposium on 'Expanding Human Rights Protection to Non-Human Subjects? African, Inter-American and European Perspectives.' The idea of expanding the normative framework of human rights to nonhuman entities is not quite new, but ever-so topical in the age of AI, corporate human rights, and the rise of…