Ecocide

“Once upon a time people did grievous harm to the environment without fully understanding the consequences of their actions. That defence is no longer available, and that sure knowledge we now have entails equally sure moral obligations. In this context, the idea of establishing the crime of ‘Ecocide’ is both timely and compelling.” Jonathon Porritt, former Chair Sustainable Development Commission

Polly Higgins, a UK barrister, has proposed that Ecocide, the environmental equivalent of genocide, becomes the 5th International Crime Against Peace alongside Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity, Crimes of Aggression and War Crimes. Under the proposed new law, Heads of States and Directors of Corporations will be required to take individual and personal responsibility for their actions.

On September 30th 2011, London’s Supreme Court became the venue for a Mock Ecocide Trial. Real-life barristers led the prosecution and defence on behalf of a fictional Mr X, CEO of a major corporation. Before the case was heard, legal argument was put as to whether Ecocide and the Earth Right to Life should be applied to the charges against Mr X, who was played by an actor. He had been charged with a number of ecocides: Deforestation of the Amazon; Arctic drilling; Shale gas extraction in Nigeria; A
major oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico;
Bauxite mining of the Niyamgiri mountain; Tar sands extraction in Canada; Deep sea mining of the Central and Eastern Manus Basin.



The trial was organised by Simon Hamilton and Fiona Hayes of the Hamilton Group: www.thehamiltongroup.org.uk