Former president of Finland, Tarja Halonen, expresses her support for an international crime of Ecocide

and becomes a signed up ‘earth protector’

We’re delighted to announce the support of the former President of Finland, Tarja Halonen.

Halonen was Finland’s first female head of state and held the presidency for two terms (2000-2012). She has an extensive history of environmental work at the highest UN level.

In a statement of strong support, Halonen said: "Stopping Ecocide through international criminal law is essential for the survival of our cultures and economies and decisive in order to safeguard global ecosystems with their species variety, as the collective life insurance of humanity."

A lawyer herself by profession, Halonen was also Finland’s first female Foreign Minister (1995-2000). She co-chaired the UN Millenium Summit in 2000 which adopted the UN Millenium Development Goals and has also co-chaired a number of UN high profile sustainable development commissions. More recently she served as Chair of the Council of Women World Leaders (2009-2014) and in 2010 was appointed Co-chair of the UN Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Global Sustainability.

Halonen continues to promote issues related to sustainable development in her many other roles, including as UN Global Champion for Disaster Risk Reduction, and as Member of both the Sustainable Development Solutions Network’s Leadership Council and the Pan-European Commission on Health and Sustainable Development. She is Chair of the Lancet-SIGHT Commission on Peaceful Societies through Health and Gender Equality.

We're delighted to have President Halonen on board.