Vanuatu President Calls for Ecocide Law at UN General Assembly

President Nikenike Vurobaravu of Vanuatu has called for states to support including a crime of ecocide in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), telling the UN General Assembly “acting with knowledge of severe and widespread or long-term damage to the environment can no longer be tolerated”.

Jojo Mehta, Co-founder and Director of Stop Ecocide International said: 

"It’s deeply encouraging to hear President Vurobaravu calling for recognition of ecocide at the UN. We trust he will prove to be the first Head of State among many to do so."

In the same speech, President Vurobaravu called for a first-of-its-kind global treaty to phase out the use of fossil fuels, as well as a request to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for an Advisory Opinion on the human rights obligations of states with respect to climate change.

Vanuatu, an archipelago of about 80 islands, was the first state to call for recognition of ecocide at the ICC (December 2019), and is championing several legal approaches to climate and ecological breakdown, and has led by example in its efforts to reduce fossil fuel dependency. The carbon-negative country, rated one of the most at-risk countries for natural disasters by the UN, has set itself a target to completely stop the use of fossil fuels by 2030.

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