Enhancing Environmental Protection through Ecocide Recognition: Aligning International Criminal Law with SDG 15
Keywords:
Environment, SDG-15, Law, Ecocide, International Criminal CourtAbstract
The proposal to recognise ecocide as a fifth international crime, prosecutable by the International Criminal Court, represents a paradigmatic shift in environmental governance and international criminal jurisprudence. This article critically examines the multifaceted impediments to institutionalising ecocide prosecution, focusing on epistemological challenges in defining environmental harm and jurisdictional constraints inherent in the Rome Statute framework. Through an analysis of doctrinal evolution, comparative criminological frameworks, and geopolitical dynamics, this study argues that while ecocide criminalisation possesses normative legitimacy, its operationalisation confronts substantive legal, evidentiary, and political obstacles that necessitate a fundamental reconceptualisation of the architecture of international criminal law.
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