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Climate emergency has gripped the planet.
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That disproportionately impacts the global South.
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Bangladesh is among one of the most
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severely vulnerable to climate change.
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The country's coastal areas
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are under greater risk today than ever before.
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At a global scale, treaties such as the COP
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that focuses on emissions are not working,
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or worse, designed to fail.
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International criminal law
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can be an effective tool for climate justice
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to hold those most responsible to account.
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But under the current laws,
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the International Criminal Court
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can only investigate four crimes,
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genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes,
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and crimes of aggression.
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Ecoside, or crimes against the environment,
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is not yet recognised.
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The term ecoside isn't new.
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It was coined to describe the widespread use of herbicides,
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such as Agent Orange
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by the United States during the Vietnam War.
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The immense destruction
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brought about by indiscriminate bombing
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by large-scale use of bulldozers and herbicides
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is an outrage sometimes described as ecoside,
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which requires urgent international attention.
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In the 1990s, the International Law Commission
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included environmental destruction
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in the Draught Code of Crimes
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Against the Peace and Security of Mankind.
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Its adopted version, known as the Rome Statute,
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which created the International Criminal Court,
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only recognises environmental destruction
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if as part of a war crime.
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But what about widespread and severe environmental harm
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when it takes place in peace time?
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All it requires is an amendment
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to a document called the Rome Statute.
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And the Rome Statute
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governs the four existing crimes against peace.
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In 2010, the barrister Polly Higgins
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submitted an amendment proposal to the United Nations
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on the crime of ecoside as a peacetime crime.
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Higgins went on to found the Stop Ecoside campaign
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with the environmental activist Jojo Mehta,
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whose aim is to raise global awareness
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and make ecoside an international crime
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by introducing it through an amendment to the Rome Statute.
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When enacted, it would allow
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the investigation of individuals
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and prosecution if found guilty of ecoside.
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Under the Rome Statute, adoption of a proposed amendment
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is by 2/3 majority vote of the Assembly of State Parties,
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the governing body of the ICC.
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The campaign participates in this key forum
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to support and amplify the voices
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of climate frontline member states.
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Ecoside has started getting wider traction
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as the environmental movement has gone mainstream.
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Groups such as the Extinction Rebellion
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have included ecoside in their demands.
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Pope Francis recently recognised the term,
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and Brazil's President Bolsonaro
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has been accused widely for causing ecoside
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and allowing for the raging fires in the Amazon.
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Powerful countries in the global North
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are unlikely to champion ecoside.
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In fact, in the 1990s,
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during the deliberations on the Rome Statute,
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environmental destruction as a standalone crime
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was opposed by the United States,
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United Kingdom, and the Netherlands.
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It is up to climate frontline states
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and civil society to take the lead.
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The Assembly of State Parties
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is exuberantly well-positioned
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to help realise this potential.
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Most notably, an amendment of the Rome Statute
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could criminalise acts among to ecoside.
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We believe this radical idea
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merits serious concentration.