On February 12, upon organisers’ invitation, ARC expert Professor Borys Babin participated online in the Launch of the Ecocide Law Advisory & Manual on the National Criminalisation of Ecocide, organised by the T.M.C. Asser Instituut in The Hague.
Ecocide Law Advisory is a partnership between The UCLA Law Promise Institute Europe and Climate Counsel to provide expert legal advice and training on the drafting and implementation of ecocide laws.
The Manual on the National Criminalisation of Ecocide offers solutions to issues raised by the 2024 EU Environmental Crimes Directive to support effective criminalisation of serious environmental harm within the EU. It was initiated and chaired by former Dutch MP Lammert van Raan, the Manual is the product of an international working group, which met during the autumn of 2024.
During the event issues of ecocide, other international and ecologic crimes were discussed by Marie Toussaint, Member of the European Parliament and Vice-President of the Greens/European Free Alliance Group, Professor Fausto Pocar from University of Milan, Former President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Professor Dr. Hermann E. Ott as Managing Director of the Germany Office for ClientEarth and other speakers.
During the event speakers discussed war and non-war situations of ecocide, crossboundary influence of crimes against environment, challenges with civil or penal responsibility and non-punishment for ecocide, relevant amendments to EU directives regarding environmental crimes, also as situation with Russian crimes against ecology committed in Ukraine
Professor Babin initiated speakers’ and participants’ attention to aspects of ecocide and other international environmental crimes, committed against maritime ecosystems, on examples of destruction of Kakhovka HPP, committed by Russian army, and ongoing ecological catastrophe of fuel oil pollution of maritime spaces around the Crimea after wrack of Russian “Volgoneft” tankers near Kerch Strait.
