France to champion international crime
of ecocide
The possibility of establishing ecocide as an international crime has just come significantly closer. President Emmanuel Macron this week gave his official response to the 150 randomly selected members of the French citizens assembly on climate, the Convention Citoyenne pour le Climat (CCC), a body he convened last year to provide proposals to the government to tackle climate change.
The assembly’s deliberations took 9 months. Foremost among their proposals, supported by a remarkable 99.3% of the assembly, was making ecocide a crime. Macron stopped short of accepting the exact text proposed, but clearly endorsed the principle. He assured the citizens of his support:
“We'll study, with you and legal experts, how this principle can be incorporated into French law."
Moreover he specifically promised, on behalf of France, to champion the enshrining of ecocide crime in international law.
“As for ecocide, I think I was the first leader to use that term when the Amazon was burning," the head of state said. "So I share the ambition that you defend … the mother of all battles is international: to ensure that this term is enshrined in international law so that leaders … are accountable before the International Criminal Court.”
This is a huge step forward. Already the conversation is expanding and interest in the subject is growing fast. Our alerts for press mentions of “ecocide” are pinging several times a day now (bear in mind 18 months ago this was once or twice a month!)...
The French developments are being celebrated in particular by human rights expert and long-term ecocide law advocate Valérie Cabanes, who is a close associate of the Stop Ecocide campaign. It was Cabanes who in January presented to the CCC in January the ecocide law proposal for which she had previously been lobbying. Inspired by the work of our co-founder Polly Higgins, she has dedicated many years to progressing the legal protection of nature. She is both thrilled and resolute:
“We take Emmanuel Macron at his word concerning his wish to fight for the recognition of the crime of ecocide at the International Criminal Court on behalf of France. He says he shares our ‘emotion faced with those who destroy entire ecosystems with "full knowledge of the facts and with impunity".’ Mr President, we expect you to stick to your words! In the meantime: Thank you!”
Look out soon on our social media for a conversation with Valérie Cabanes and Jojo Mehta in discussion on what this means for France and for the wider campaign.
Convergence of injustice
The world has been shaken by events in the US, and the environmental movement among others has had to consciously examine its assumptions. Should any of us be surprised that ecological, health, social and racial injustice which have been turned away from - and even violently silenced - have all converged to become visible at once? Read our campaign statement HERE.
Speech, debate, interview
Jojo Mehta in conversation with Amazon activist Zoë Tryon, 5th June, hosted by Medicine Festival… Jojo & Zoe recall Polly Higgins and celebrate the latest developments in the Stop Ecocide campaign. You can watch here: FACEBOOK / YOUTUBE
Our co-founder Jojo Mehta presented to the UK Environmental Law Association (UKELA) conference on 26th June as part of a panel on The Rule of Law and the Environment. You can listen to her 15 minute speech HERE
If you missed the exciting debate in Spain last month with Joaquín Araujo, Baltasar Garzón and our own Maite Mompó, you can watch it HERE
And if you missed the lively conversation between Jonathon Porritt and Jojo Mehta you can watch it HERE
Partnering…
If your organisation, group, NGO, publication or business believes in what we’re doing, we would love to hear what you can do with your membership and your strategy to include this simple, essential demand to governments: “Support making ECOCIDE an international crime.”
Please visit our Partner with us page.
Volunteers - some specific asks
Do you believe in what we’re doing and have some time to spare? We’re looking for people to help with translations for our international web sites, particularly German, Swedish, Brazilian Portuguese and Italian.
Please email volunteers@stopecocide.earth
Amplification
We have a feeling things are only going to accelerate from here. So stay tuned on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and keep on sharing our content, or take it a step further and Be an ambassador for Stop Ecocide… It’s your support that takes this work forward!
And for something new to share, here is an excellent short video on the work to criminalise #ECOCIDE - put together by INTERPRT, our forensic investigation partners. It includes original footage of Vanuatu Ambassador's official speech at the International Criminal Court, Dec ’19.
Watch HERE or click on the below image taken from the video.
We felt appropriate to include an image of Polly Higgins & Jojo Mehta together as Polly would have been 52 yesterday (4th July) if she were still with us - "interdependence day" as she used to call it.
Change the law, protect the Earth
with love and unshakeable persistence,
The Stop Ecocide Team
Earth Protector Communities News
How do we act ‘as if’ ECOCIDE law were already in place, right across communities? Earth Protector Communities, sister charity initiative of the Stop Ecocide campaign, is co-creating models at grassroots level to sow the seeds of how this might be done.
Young people lead on Earth Protector Universities
Universities could emerge as fertile ground for these seeds. Last month we invited 16 students from France, Germany, Holland and the UK to meet online, and an energetic first discussion took place around developing a map for protecting the Earth and regenerating community via the organisation of a university, embedded in its particular local community. The students continue exploring how best to encourage their Universities to become beacons - declared Earth Protector institutions committed to collaborative decision making and prioritising ecology, ethics and social justice. More conversations to come!
Local well-being regeneration: a community hub
Our Healthy Being team is evolving a practical model for how Earth Protector Towns might work, in our home town of Stroud, UK.
Together with local sustainability organisations, our charity is developing a community space to support the long-term mental, physical and spiritual wellbeing of the town.
This will include hot-desking space, a community café, venue for classes, events, conversations and counselling, public washing facilities and a base for local peer-to-peer food hub business StroudCo, linking the community firmly to the local economy of sustainable food producers.
Even at this early stage, we can see from this “on the ground” work that combining community well-being, ecology and economy for the benefit of all is the way forward as we emerge from the covid-19 crisis.
In this context we feel that the #BlackLivesMatter and #BuildBackBetter movements are deeply correlated - our statement on this is HERE.
First do no harm
With warmth and resilience
The Earth Protector Communities Team