Ecocide and Its Criminalization in International Criminal Law

Environmental crimes have, in recent decades, evolved from a predominantly domestic concern into a threat to the security, health, and survival of the international community. Climate change, large-scale biodiversity loss, transboundary pollution, and the unsustainable exploitation of natural resources have demonstrated that traditional frameworks of national and international criminal law face serious shortcomings in preventing and responding to severe environmental harm. Against this background, the concept of ecocide has attracted extensive attention from States, international organizations, and scholars as one of the most significant emerging ideas in international criminal law. This article aims to analyze the theoretical and legal foundations of the criminalization of ecocide and to assess its potential place in the future of international criminal law. Using a descriptive-analytical methodology and examining international instruments, legal scholarship, and existing practice, the study asks whether ecocide possesses the necessary capacity to become the fifth international crime. The findings indicate that, although the development of international criminal law is gradually moving toward recognition of the environment as an independent value, conceptual ambiguity, difficulties in determining the mens rea, conflicts with States’ economic interests, and the absence of political consensus remain major obstacles to criminalizing ecocide. Nevertheless, growing global concern over the climate crisis and the expansion of environmental justice provide a basis for the gradual recognition of ecocide as a crime against the international community. The article concludes that criminalizing ecocide would constitute not merely an addition to the list of international crimes, but a fundamental transformation in the philosophy of international criminal law and in the protection of the common interests of humanity and future generations.

کلیدواژه ها:

ecocide ، international criminal law ، criminalization ، environmental justice ، rights of future generations ، environmental security