Hybrid event with online streaming
Wednesday 29 November at Carlos III University
8:20am - 5:15pm GMT | 9:20am - 6:15pm CET
Registration required for in-person attendance
Deadline: Monday 27 November 2023.
Location: Getafe Campus Room “Buero Vallejo” (14.0.11)
Organised by: Universidad Carlos III de Madrid & Stop Ecocide International
In collaboration with: International Council of Enviromental Law, IUCN/ WCEL y Pax Natura.
Academic coordinators:
Thomas Obel Hansen & Montserrat Abad Castelos
Stop Ecocide coordinators:
Maite Mompó & Rodrigo Lledó
Times: GMT | CET
8:20 - 8:45 | 9:20 - 9:45
Welcome remarks
Thomas Obel Hansen - Maria Zambrano Distinguished Researcher, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid; Senior Lecturer in Law, Ulster University, UK
Montserrat Abad Castelos - Professor of Public International Law at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid; Co-director of the ICEL’s International Secretariat; Co-Principal investigator of the Project Making Peace with Nature and Making Nature a Key for Peace [PaxNatura, Part I]
Laura Carballo Piñeiro - Professor of Private international law at University of Vigo, Dean of the Faculty of International Relations. and co-PI of the PaxNatura Project
Maite Mompó - Director of Stop Ecocide in Spanish language; degree in Law and specialized in ecological ethics, sustainability and environmental education; activist in human rights, peace and environment
Rodrigo Lledó - Member of the International Expert Panel for the definition of ecocide; Director of Stop Ecocide Americas; vice president of Derechos Humanos Sin Fronteras (DHSF) and professor at the International University of La Rioja (UNIR)
8:45 - 09:00 | 9:45 - 10:00
Opening presentation
Christina Voigt - Professor of International Law, University of Oslo; president of WCEL; member of the International Expert Panel for the definition of ecocide (online)
09:00 - 10:30 | 10:00 - 11:30
Panel 1: Context and rationale for criminalizing ecocide
Thomas Obel Hansen - Maria Zambrano Distinguished Researcher, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid; Senior Lecturer in Law, Ulster University
Presentations:
Jojo Mehta - Executive Director of Stop Ecocide International and Chair of Stop Ecocide Foundation
Concepción Escobar - Professor of Public International Law, UNED; Director of the Center of Studies of IHL, Spanish Red Cross; Former Member and Special Rapporteur of the UN International Law Commission; Former Head of the International Law Department of the Spanish MFA
Mr. Ambassador Georges Maniuri - Vanuatu’s Ambassador to Europe
Chidi Oti Obihara - Senior fellow for climate finance with Drawdown Labs; Senior Advisor at SBTi
Montserrat Abad Castelos - Professor of Public International Law at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid; Co-director of the ICEL’s International Secretariat; Co-Principal investigator of the Project Making Peace with Nature and Making Nature a Key for Peace [PaxNatura, Part I])
10:45 - 12:15 | 11:45-13:15
Panel 2: Ecocide & environmental crimes prosecution at the ICC
Kevin Heller - Professor of International Law and Security, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Matthew Gillett - Senior Lecturer, Essex Law School, UK; former Prosecution Lawyer, International Criminal Court
Kate Mackintosh - Deputy chair of the International Expert Panel for the definition of ecocide; Executive Director of the Promise Institute for Human Rights at the UCLA School of Law
Rodrigo Lledó - Member of the International Expert Panel for the definition of ecocide; Director of Stop Ecocidio Americas, vice president of Derechos Humanos Sin Fronteras (DHSF) and professor at the International University of La Rioja (UNIR)
Thomas Obel Hansen - Maria Zambrano Distinguished Researcher, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid; Senior Lecturer in Law, Ulster University, UK
13:45 - 15:15 | 14:45-16:15
Panel 3: Ecocide & environmental justice in national and regional legal frameworks
Maite Mompó - Director of Stop Ecocide in Spanish language; degree in Law and specialized in ecological ethics, sustainability and environmental education; activist in human rights, peace and environment
Darryl Robinson - Professor of Law, Queens University, Canada
Paulo Busse - Lead lawyer at Climate Counsel; expert at Ecocide Advice Centre; Co-Head of the Environmental and Climate Crisis Practice Group at Global Diligence Alliance
Patricia Willocq - Founder and Director at Stop Ecocide Belgium and coordinator of Stop Ecocide in French language; award winning photographer exhibited by OHCHR, UNESCO and UNICEF
Jaime Doreste - Associate professor of environmental law at the UAM; environmental lawyer for Ecologistas en Acción, Greenpeace, SEO/BirdLife, and neighbourhood associations, among others
Roxane Chaplain - Lawyer specialised in environmental law working at the European Parliament as part of MEP Marie Toussant team
15:15 - 16:45 | 16:15-17:45
Panel 4: Environmental crimes, human rights & transitional justice
Triantafyllos Gkouvas - Post-doctoral researcher of Carlos III University of Madrid
Ana Elena Abello Jiménez - Lawyer who has worked at the Chamber for Recognition of Truth, Responsibility and Determination of Facts and Conducts of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace for 5 years.
Esteban Morelle Hungria - Lecturer in Criminology and Criminal Law at the Jaume I University, Spain
Maite Mompó - Director of Stop Ecocide in Spanish language; degree in Law and specialized in ecological ethics, sustainability and environmental education; activist in human rights, peace and environment
Moderated by Rodrigo Lledó - Member of the International Expert Panel for the definition of ecocide; Director of Stop Ecocide Americas; vice president of Derechos Humanos Sin Fronteras (DHSF) and professor at the International University of La Rioja (UNIR)
16:45 - 17:00 | 17:45-18:00
Closing Remarks
Nicholas Robinson - Executive President of ICEL; Chair Emeritus of the WCEL; Emeritus Professor at the University of Pace, NY, USA
Karen Hulme - Professor of Law, University of Essex, UK and IUCN WCEL Chair of SG on Environmental Security and Conflict Law
WORKSHOP RATIONALE
This Workshop, hosted jointly by Universidad Carlos III de Madrid and Stop Ecocide – with support from ICEL and IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law and the grants mentioned below – seeks to understand options and challenges to achieve greater accountability for environmental crimes. It takes the starting point in exploring the rationale, feasibility and possible consequences of recently made suggestions for expanding accountability for environmental crimes at International Criminal Court (‘ICC’) level.
The workshop pays particular attention to the Independent Expert Panel (IEP) ‘ecocide’ proposal, tabled in June 2021, its potential strengths, possible weaknesses and prospects for enforcement. The proposal has quickly achieved widespread support among policy-makers, activists, academics and many others. Should it ultimately be adopted by the ICC Assembly of States Parties this would undoubtedly be seen by many as an important advancement in both international criminal law and environmental protection.
However, observers have pointed to challenges associated with adopting the ecocide proposal in its current form and effectively enforcing it at ICC level, including important questions around the proposal’s definition of ecocide, possible resistance by certain stakeholders, and issues surrounding the ICC’s capacity to meaningfully enforce an ecocide crime. Importantly, environmental crimes often involve particularly powerful interests including large business enterprises, but is the ICC geared to prosecute the type of actors most responsible for ecocide and other serious environmental crimes?
At the same time, significant developments have recently taken place at the domestic and regional levels, including the presentation of a new EU environmental crime directive and the adoption of expanded environmental crimes legislation in numerous national jurisdictions around the world – in some cases seemingly drawing on the IEP ecocide proposal. But what are the opportunities and challenges for national legal systems to prosecute ecocide and more broadly advance accountability for environmental crimes? For example, how could extraterritorial jurisdiction principles be utilized to promote justice for environmental crimes that are committed outside the State wishing to exercise jurisdiction, including in conflict zones? Criminal law is not the only way to achieve greater accountability for environmental crimes, raising questions for example concerning the prospects of relying on other legal frameworks such as tort law. Further, since conflict and post-conflict societies are often particularly affected by environmental crimes, what could be the role of transitional justice measures addressing these crimes?
Exploring these and related themes through presentations and debate with academics from different disciplines, practitioners and activists, this workshop aims to facilitate a critical and timely discussion of the different avenues for advancing justice for serious environmental crimes including ecocide – and to build bridges between disciplines, research agendas and academia-policy-practitioner relations. The workshop is in hybrid format, allowing presenters and participants to join online.
The event is organized in the framework of Making Peace with Nature and Making Nature a Key for Peace Project (Ref.: PID2022-1424842022). The event is supported by Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (DECANATO FACULTAD CC. SOCIALES Y JURIDICAS, Convocatoria 2023 de ayudas para la organización de congresos, conferencias, reuniones científicas y seminarios organizados por los departamentos, grupos de investigación y profesores e investigadores de la Facultad de Ciencias Sociales y Jurídicas de la Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (Modalidad C) para la actividad titulada Justice options for environmental crimes in armed conflict; as well as Convocatoria 2023 de ayudas para la organización de congresos y reuniones científicas y workshops por la UC3M (Modalidad A: congresos internacionales) mediante la resolución de 7 de noviembre de 2023 (grant number: UXXI con el código 2023/00447/001). The event further benefits from funding provided by the Spanish government and the EU Commission’s ‘Next-Generation-EU’ framework for the Maria Zambrano Distinguished Research Fellowship undertaken by Thomas Obel Hansen (2023-24) with Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. The event is also receiving funding from ICEL and IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law.