October 2023 - CHILE
On August 17, a new law, Law 21.595 was published in Chile. It modifies the Penal Code in terms of economic crimes and incorporates a new section on "Attacks against the environment", which includes several elements of the legal definition of ecocide formulated by the Independent Expert Panel, convened by Stop Ecocide Foundation in 2021.
September 2023 - ITALY
Alleanza Verdi e Sinistra (Greens and Left Alliance), supported by Stop Ecocidio Italia and Stop Ecocide International, has submitted a bill aimed at preventing and criminalising ecocide to the Italian Parliament.
The proposed bill, which is directly based on the wording of the legal definition of ecocide formulated by the Independent Expert Panel convened by the Stop Ecocide Foundation in 2021, has been formally submitted to parliament, with debate and votes due to take place in the coming months.
July 2023 - MEXICO
Deputy Karina Marlen Barrón Perales (PRI) proposed adding a new article to Mexico's Federal Penal Code punishing anyone who perpetrates "any unlawful or wanton act committed with the knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment”.
July 2023 - SPAIN/CATALUNYA
The Catalan Parliament has initiated a procedure to bring before the National Congress of Deputies a bill to include the crime of ecocide in the Spanish Penal Code. From here, the proposal will continue its progress. There will be several months of hearings in which amendments can be introduced to the text, after which a final vote will take place at the Catalan Parliament.
July 2023 - NETHERLANDS
Member of Parliament Lammert van Raan of Partij voor de Dieren (Party for the Animals), officially launched a law proposal to criminalise ecocide in the Netherlands.
The proposal is currently subject to four weeks of public consultation prior to being submitted for advisory opinion to the Council of State. For the bill to become law, it will then need to be approved by Parliament.
July 2023 - BELGIUM
The Belgian Council of Ministers approved the second reading of a bill outlining proposed reforms to the nation’s penal code. Among the new crimes listed for inclusion is Ecocide. Pending approval by Parliament later this year, the development sees Belgium set to become the twelfth country to add the crime to its statute books.
July 2023 - OSCE PA
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has called on parliaments of its participating States to enshrine the concept of ecocide in national and international law.
June 2023 - BRAZIL
The Brazilian political party PSOL (Partido Socialismo e Liberdade) submitted a new Ecocide Bill to the Brazilian Congress. The proposed ecocide law seeks to criminalise “performing illegal or wanton acts with the knowledge that they generate a substantial probability of serious and widespread or long-term damage to the environment.”
June 2023 - AUSTRIA
At a UN Security Council open debate on the effects of climate change on peace and security, the Austrian Ambassador suggested that ‘the international community should consider making widespread long-term damage to the environment a crime under international law — referred to as “ecocide”. ‘
May 2023 - SPAIN
On 9 May 2023, the Spanish government officially answered to a written question submitted by Inés Sabanés Nadal, MP for Más País Verdes Equo, on whether the Ministry of Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge intended to support the proposal to recognise ecocide and autonomous crimes against the environment in the framework of the European Council.
March 2023 - EUROPEAN UNION
Via announcement at a monthly plenary session, the European Parliament officially declared its support of the inclusion of ecocide-level crimes into the European Union’s revised Directive on protection of the environment through criminal law.
March 2023 - EUROPEAN UNION
Following the direction of travel established in the 4 previous consultative committees, the last and most important of these in the context of this Directive, the legal affairs (JURI) committee, unanimously voted to include the most serious environmental crimes - widely known as “ecocide” - in its proposed text for the Directive which will be presented in the EU Parliament on 17th April.
March 2023 - 6 ISLAND NATIONS
Governments of Vanuatu, Tuvalu, Tonga, Fiji, Niue, and the Solomon Islands collectively call to phase out fossil fuels, support a rapid and just Pacific transition to renewable energy, and strengthen related legal obligations - including to “prevent Ecocide.”
March 2023 - UKRAINE
United for Justice state-hosted conference in Lviv discusses ecocide law in high-level panel ”Prosecuting Environmental War Crimes” featuring Environment Minister, following severe environmental damage suffered in Ukraine as a result of Russian invasion.
January 2023 - COUNCIL OF EUROPE (46 STATES)
Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe adopts resolution and recommendation calling for recognition of ecocide, based on report from its Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development on the Environmental impact of armed conflicts.
December 2022 - BELGIUM
General Debate, Assembly of States Parties (ASP) to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court: Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib reiterates Belgium’s “willingness to engage in consideration of the introduction of a crime known as ‘ecocide’ into the Rome Statute system.”
December 2022 - AOTEAROA/NEW ZEALAND
General Debate, Assembly of States Parties (ASP) to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court: Aotearoa/New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Hon. Nanaia Mahuta made a strong statement in support of “future discussions around the concept of ecocide as an international crime to address environmental destruction at a global level.”
December 2022 - FINLAND
General Debate, Assembly of States Parties (ASP) to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court: Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto welcomes “every effort to use international criminal justice to respond” to the threats of climate change and biodiversity loss, and notes the Assembly provides a context to “continue discussions on the ecocide initiative.”
November 2022 - UKRAINE
At the G20 summit in Indonesia, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine set out in a speech to world leaders a 10-point Peace Formula aimed at restoring just and long-lasting peace for Ukraine. Covering nuclear safety, food and security, ceasing of hostilities and the upholding of the UN Charter, point 8 of the plan addresses the challenge of “countering ecocide.”
September 2022 - PANAMA
UN General Assembly: the Vice President of the Republic of Panama, José Gabriel Carrizo, argued that "the time has come for the world to have an international body to hold accountable all those who cause damage to the planet. […] When is ecocide going to stop?"