European parliament reaffirms support for ecocide law

With a vote on 16th February 2022 the European Parliament has once again recommended support for ecocide law.  The report on human rights & democracy which was voted through last week recommends EU member states to support criminalising ecocide at the ICC & also to examine its relevance to EU law.

This is the 6th time the European Parliament has supported the ICC route and the 2nd time it has recommended an EU approach as well, indicating a normalisation of the concept and a strong basis for action going forward.

The full clause from the report resolves that the Parliament: “encourages the EU and its Member States to promote the recognition of ecocide as an international crime under the Rome Statute of the ICC, and requests that the Commission study the relevance of ecocide to EU law and EU diplomacy; calls on the EU and the Member States to take bold initiatives to fight the impunity of environmental crimes at a global level”.