From ecocide to ecocentrism: Conceptualising environmental victimhood at the International Criminal Court

Abstract

In 2021, an Independent Expert Panel for the Legal Definition of Ecocide launched what they described as a ‘practical and effective definition of the crime of ecocide’. The Panel expressed their hope that the ‘proposed definition might serve as the basis of consideration for an amendment to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court’. The proposed crime differs from the majority of those currently codified in the Rome Statute in that it adopts an ‘ecocentric’ understanding of harm, meaning damage to the natural environment alone is sufficient as the basis for the crime. In this article, we extend this ecocentric perspective to the International Criminal Court’s (ICC’s) victim participation and reparation regime. Drawing on emerging ecocentric legal movements, including the recognition of territories as victims of armed conflict, international rights of nature movements, environmental restorative justice, and existing juridical practice on repairing environmental harm, we consider the environmentally reparative possibilities of recognising the environment itself as a victim of a crime, with accompanying rights to participation, representation, and reparation. We argue that such recognition may enable more holistic repair in the aftermath of atrocity and could therefore be a valuable development both alongside and in the absence of a new crime of ecocide.