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The Crimson

The student news site of Bernards High School

The Crimson

The student news site of Bernards High School

The Crimson

International Criminal Court Environmental Destruction

International+Criminal+Court+Environmental+Destruction

Landgrabbing and environmental destruction by world governments and CEOs of companies could be a prosecutable offense, according to a recent decision made by the International Criminal Court.

The ICC is a United Nations-backed organization that has mostly dealt with cases of genocide, war crimes, and other crimes against humanity since its creation in 2002, according to the official International Criminal Court website. Individuals that are usually prosecuted are leaders of rebellions, military leaders, and politicians. However, due to criticisms of the court not dealing with environmental crimes, the court ruled “it would give special consideration to pursuing crimes involving environmental destruction and land grabs,” as stated by The Washington Post.

This means that government leaders or CEOs of companies can now be taken to court for crimes against humanity caused by the destruction of the environment.The first case that will be reconsidered, according to The Washington Post, is landgrabbing that occurred in Cambodia in 2014 by the ruling government, resulting in the displacement of over 350,000 people.

Landgrabbing is a questionable practice used by many corporations to take over massive amounts of land, usually in foreign countries, to exploit the area’s resources without helping the natives of the land. This taking of land has resulted in large-scale displacement of the local population, forcing them to go to other lands without compensation.

This practice has been increasingly common in the past ten years, with millions of acres of land being claimed by governments and companies.Landgrabbing itself will not be considered a crime, but the forced evictions that results from the taking of the land will be.

Reinhold Gallmetzer, a member of the International Criminal Court, said, “Forcible transfer [of people] can already be a crime against humanity, so if it is committed by land-grabbing – whether as a result or a precursor – it can be included.”

Dealing with this issue will also help deal indirectly with climate change, as stated by The Guardian. Deforestation usually results from this seizure of land, so restricting it would help both preserve the forests of the world and prevent climate change, as the forests absorb excess carbon and stop it from entering the atmosphere.

Individuals such as CEOs can be prosecuted if they are caught to be a part of destroying rain forests, poisoning water supplies, or seizing land, as reported by The Independent. This statement may change the way companies work in developing countries, because now they will have to take into consideration that if they simply exploit the land, they can be charged by the ICC.

The ICC said that they were not fully extending their jurisdiction, but instead they are looking at crimes against humanity in a broader context. Particularly, they declared in their recent policy paper posted on September 15th that they will give consideration to crimes that are committed through “the destruction of the environment, the illegal exploitation of natural resources or the illegal dispossession of land.”

In the recent decision, the ICC has also stated that they will provide more help to individual countries to help stop crimes such as arms trafficking, human trafficking, terrorism and financial crimes, according to The Guardian. Although it can only help the 124 countries that have ratified the Rome Statute, the document that created the ICC.

 

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