Is your business at risk of being charged with ecocide?

Campaign for new international law gains momentum as lawyers prepare to stage mock ecocide trial

A lawyer campaigning for the mass destruction of ecosystems to be officially recognised as an international crime has revealed that her campaign could be successfully completed within 18 months.

 

Polly Higgins is urging the UN to accept "ecocide" as a crime against peace, alongside genocide and crimes against humanity. The move could make it possible for those individuals and businesses found guilty of environmental harm to be tried at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Speaking to BusinessGreen on the sidelines of an event in London earlier this week, Higgins revealed that she hopes ecocide will be accepted as an international crime by spring 2013.

If enshrined in law, the radical idea could have a massive impact on industries blamed for widespread damage to the environment, such as the fossil fuels, mining, agriculture, chemicals and forestry sectors.
"Its not a question of 'if' but 'when'," Higgins argued, adding that she hopes to secure the change to the law and retire in the next 18 months.

An ecocide mock trial has been held in the UK's Supreme Court, in which one company will be tried for its crimes against the environment, as if an ecocide law were in place. A real judge, barristers and QCs, and a real jury, were in the court.

Higgins has been meeting with governments around the world and says she has received positive feedback from many. She hopes the UN's "one member, one vote" system will help overcome opposition from a handful of nations.

Eighty-one heads of state need to back the law for it to be passed, and she added that many countries in the southern hemisphere, which are likely to be hit hardest by the impacts of climate change, are enthusiastic about the law.

"If the US refuses to agree, or if China refuses, it could still be passed," she said.

read more: www.businessgreen.com

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