20th Assembly of States Parties (ASP) to the International Criminal Court (ICC) The Hague. (6th-11th Dec 2021)
Official side event to the ICC Annual Assembly 2021
Tuesday 7th December 2021
18.30pm CET / 17:30pm GMT (VIRTUAL)
(1.5hrs duration)
Ecocide: a fifth crime defined
This year, in response to political demand, an independent expert panel of top international criminal and environmental lawyers from around the world spent 6 months drafting a clear, concise definition of “ecocide” as a potential 5th crime under the Rome Statute. With the new definition already gaining significant political traction, co-chairs of the panel Philippe Sands QC and Dior Fall Sow are joined by key voices from countries at the forefront of the growing movement to recognise ecocide at the International Criminal Court.
Interpretation: French, Spanish, Arabic & English
Schedule of event
Opening address: Mr Dreli Solomon, Chargé d'Affaires at the Embassy of the Republic of Vanuatu in Brussels
Supporting statement:
Rt. Hon. Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa, Prime Minister, Independent State of Samoa
Mr Saber Hossain Chowdhury MP, People’s Republic of Bangladesh
Speakers from the Independent Expert Panel for the Legal Definition of Ecocide:
Professor Philippe Sands QC
UCL/Matrix Law. (UK/France, Co-chair)
Dior Fall Sow
UN jurist & former prosecutor (Senegal, Co-chair)
Judge Tuiloma Neroni Slade
former ICC judge (Samoa, Panelist)
Syeda Rizwana Hasan
Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (Bangladesh, Panelist)
Jojo Mehta
(UK, Convenor)
With reflections from:
HRH Princess Esmeralda of Belgium
Journalist, author and activist.
HRH El Hassan bin Talal of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
Humanitarian, and peace and interfaith advocate
Mindahi Bastida
Indigenous Elder & Spokesperson (Mexico, Otomi-Toltec tradition)
Chair / Moderator:
Patrick Smith
Editor-in-Chief, The Africa Report
Co-sponsors:
Republic of Vanuatu
Independent State of Samoa
People's Republic of Bangladesh
Stop Ecocide Foundation
Institute for Environmental Security
The Hague Peace Projects
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