More than 26,000 people have signed a petition from UAnimals to the United Nations and the European Parliament “Stop Ecocide in Ukraine: Punish russia for the Crimes against Environment.” Oleksandr Todorchuk, the founder of UAnimals, had created it even before russians committed the largest act of ecocide during the full-scale war — the destruction of the dam of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant.

Signatures for the petition are still being collected. However, Ukrainian law lacks tools to hold an entire state accountable for ecocide, and the legislation of the European Union does not even include the concept of “ecocide.” Read further in our article to find out what legislative tools will help punish russia for environmental crimes.

Ecocide in Ukraine: Law and Reality

Article 441 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine states that ecocide is “the mass destruction of flora and fauna, poisoning of air or water resources, and also any other actions that may cause an environmental disaster.” Can it be argued that, according to this definition, russians have been committing ecocide with their military actions in Ukraine since 2014? To answer this, let’s recall the consequences for Ukrainian nature.

In Crimea, which has been occupied since 2014, russia is causing harm to the environment, violating international law on the management of occupied territory, primarily the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War. The occupying power must preserve the natural environment in the captured territories. Instead, russia has nationalised all nature reserves in Crimea and abolished the Ukrainian laws, introducing its own ones. For some reserves, the russian authorities have terminated their protective status, giving access to visitors, while allowing deforestation and developing infrastructure for military bases.

Following russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the threat to the ecosystem has increased even more. The polluted area of the Black Sea has extended to the ports of Odesa and Mykolaiv (before the full-scale invasion, the Black Sea was mainly polluted by pharmaceutical products and pesticides from agricultural land). Shelling of the infrastructure of the Odesa port by russians led to the leakage of hazardous chemical cargo and fuel into the water. And dolphin populations are dying due to sea mining.

The russian army also damaged such industrial enterprises as Azovstal, Avdiivka Coke Plant and Lysychansk Oil Refinery through bombardments. It is currently impossible to assess the consequences of the damage and losses to the ecosystem due to the occupation of parts of Ukraine.

On June 6, 2023, russian forces blew up the dam of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant. russians flooded 5 settlements and over 63 thousand hectares of forest. The final consequences of this tragedy will only be possible to establish after the de-occupation of the affected regions in southern Ukraine. Ukraine considers this catastrophe as a war crime by russia against Ukraine and an act of ecocide.

However, Yulia Ovchynnykova, a Ukrainian MP from the Servant of the People party, PhD in Biology and an expert of the Council of Europe’s Committee on Environmental Protection through Criminal Law, comments to UAnimals that holding russia accountable for ecocide requires changes in both national and international law.

“Article 441 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine was introduced in 2001 — it has remained unchanged for 22 years. There are many evaluative concepts: mass destruction, air poisoning, environmental disaster. Therefore, we need to carefully and professionally review the national legislation,” explains Yulia Ovchynnykova.

Meanwhile, lawyer Sofia Shutiak believes that Ukrainian legislation, including Article 441 of the Criminal Code, will not help to hold russia accountable as a state — only individual russian officials.

“To hold states accountable, one should turn to international law. Typically, there must be a series of conditions for this: primarily, international legal obligations between two or more states. For example, the UN Charter obliges countries not to wage war and to resolve all issues peacefully. There should also be action or inaction by the responsible state that violates this obligation. Since 2014, russia has covertly and since 2022 has openly interfered with Ukraine’s borders and has been killing Ukrainian citizens — both civilians and military. And finally, this action must result in loss or damage. There are many such losses and damages due to the war,” explains Sofia Shutiak.

In his speech at the G20 summit in 2022, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the preparation of a platform to assess the damage caused to Ukraine’s ecosystem by russia. Moreover, in the Peace Formula, a Ukrainian initiative to end the war, the president speaks about creating mechanisms to counteract ecocide and holding russia accountable for committing this crime. This could become a significant precedent for future similar processes worldwide.

“What’s important is that there are several steps at the international level. The first (and main) one is the 8th point of the Peace Formula — actual counteraction to ecocide and immediate protection. Thanks to the president, almost the entire world has paid attention to this issue, and it was a real driver for further action,” explains Yulia Ovchynnykova.

Ecocide in International Law: from Uncertainty to a New Vision

During the negotiation process with the European Union, Ukraine will adapt its legislation to European standards, in particular those related to the environment. The EU’s environmental policy is aimed at preventing environmental damage. It is based on shared responsibility, integrating environmental protection into all spheres of life, and the polluter pays principle.

However, the concept of “ecocide” does not exist in European law. Only this year, the European Parliament adopted a directive criminalising “cases comparable to ecocide” — actions that cause widespread, substantial and irreversible or long-term damage to large ecosystems, habitats or the quality of air, soil or water.

Some European countries independently introduce the concept of “ecocide” into their legislation. Ukraine can use their developments to update its own law on ecocide. According to Yulia Ovchynnykova, the Belgian law on ecocide could serve as an example for legislative updates. The Belgian government approved this draft law recently, in 2023. From now on, Belgium defines ecocide as “serious, widespread and long-term damage to the environment caused by unlawful actions.”

The key phrase in Belgian law is precisely the last one: “damage to the environment caused by unlawful actions.” This means that one can be held accountable not only for waging war, but also for any other unlawful actions resulting in an environmental disaster.

Scotland began considering a bill to criminalise ecocide in 2023. The authors of the bill propose punishment for “serious violations”, i.e. for adverse impacts on human life or natural, cultural or economic resources. The extent of the damage spread is also important, that is the violation should affect other territories, cross state borders and potentially harm an entire ecosystem or species.

“Ecocide is any activity that can lead to an environmental disaster. That’s why large companies, businesses and authorities resist [legislative changes]…,” explains MP Yulia Ovchynnykova. According to her, it is necessary to create a system where destroying the environment is detrimental to one’s reputation.

Stop Ecocide International Foundation has also developed a concept for defining ecocide to incorporate this crime into international law, including the Rome Statute. Their definition will be adapted to the national legislation of countries that have decided to criminalise ecocide. Among them are Belgium and Scotland.

Yulia Ovchynnykova also believes that Ukraine should pay attention to the concept developed by Stop Ecocide International: “We will adapt our legislation, so we need a single definition that will be used in European countries. The European Union mostly accepts it. The Prosecutor General’s Office considers this definition to be close to our needs.”

Retribution for ecocide: experience and instruments of influence

Despite the absence of the concept of “ecocide” in the Rome Statute and the complexity of proving this violation, precedents for holding accountable for environmental crimes already exist in international law.

In 1991, troops under the auspices of the United Nations (UN) liberated Kuwait from Iraqi occupation. Kuwait, along with other Persian Gulf countries, immediately filed a lawsuit with the UN International Court of Justice to be compensated for damage caused by the oil spill in the Gulf waters when Iraqi forces damaged a tanker there. That year, the UN established the Compensation Commission to process claims against Iraq, including those for environmental damage. The Commission completed its work in 2005. According to its calculations, the total compensation amount to the victims exceeded $52 billion.

The compensation was paid to the victims by the UN Compensation Fund, which received a percentage from the export sales of Iraqi crude oil and pertroleum products. The final payment was made in January 2022. In February of the same year, the UN dissolved the commission.

This case can be an example for Ukraine, Environment. People. Law public organisation believes.

“… Ukraine should appeal to the UN and the Security Council to adopt relevant resolutions condemning russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine and to establish a subsidiary body to compensate for the damage caused to Ukraine. Ukraine should also demand the creation of a special fund to pay compensation to the state, legal entities and individuals affected by russia’s aggression,” the organisation’s statement reads.

Changes in international law will speed up the process for Ukraine. After the introduction of the concept of “ecocide” into the Rome Statute, this crime will be criminalised, and offenders will be arrested and tried in the International Court of Justice in The Hague. In order for ecocide to be added to the Rome Statute, states that have ratified the statute must propose this amendment. Ukraine has not ratified the Rome Statute but is obliged to do so as part of the negotiation process with the European Union.

In February 2024, the European Parliament approved a new directive on environmental crimes “comparable to ecocide” and the corresponding punishments for them. The new directive qualifies offences such as large-scale forest fires or widespread pollution of air, water and soil leading to ecosystem destruction. Qualified crimes will be punishable by eight years in prison, those that result in the death of a person — by ten years in prison, and other offences — by up to five years in prison. For companies, fines will range from 3 to 5% of their annual global turnover or alternatively 24 or 40 million euros depending on the nature of the offence.

Moreover, in October 2023, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted a resolution on the impact of armed conflicts on the environment. The resolution calls for ecocide to be recognised as a crime in national legislation and international law. The resolution also defines that “serious damage or deterioration of the state of nature, which may be qualified as ecocide, may occur in peacetime or wartime.”

PACE resolutions are not binding, and they are used as guidelines by other organisations and member states of the assembly for adapting their own legislations.

Yulia Ovchynnykova believes that comprehensive actions of international organisations, PACE and the European Union will help to criminalise ecocide in international law.

“Such postulates as the President’s Peace Formula and the high level group of the International Parliamentary Alliance are efforts to promote the criminalisation of ecocide and its recognition at the international level,” summarises Yulia Ovchynnykova.

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