The ravages of Russia's brutal war in Ukraine amount to ecocide. As Commander-in-Chief and under the principle of command responsibility, Vladimir Putin is responsible for the actions of the Russian Armed Forces, which have unleashed massive and irreparable damage to the environment in Ukraine. His war exposes social and economic danger benefits The nature of Ukraine is foreseen not only for the good of Ukraine, but also for our common global interests. In doing so, Putin is going against the grain of legal progress, international standards, human nature, and the concept of security.
Defining ecocide
The definition of ecocide in 2021 has been presented before Independent expert committee, Which were collected to determine the applicable legal definition of the crime under international law. They include “unlawful or wanton acts committed in the knowledge that there is a high probability that serious, widespread or long-term damage to the environment will result from those acts.” This crime, if adopted by the International Criminal Court, would become only the fifth international crime in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, meaning that it could be brought to court by any signatory state of the Statute, but not retroactively. As it stands, this definition has been agreed upon by the European Union and about fourteen other countries so far.
President Zelensky, educated in law and with a keen talent for galvanizing the public zeitgeist, had the strategic foresight to include ecocide as one of the ten points of his plan. Peace plan. By calling for his impeachment, Zelensky has opened a vital path to addressing the clear and present danger of ecocide. Until this step, the path to prosecution had eluded the growing number of advocates for legal recognition of ecocide, but now the path forward is beginning to unfold like a stepping stone in the fog of war.
With the renewed invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, many of Ukraine's most prominent environmental NGOs, as well as international cooperation platforms such as ecodozorCases were indexed and monitored Potential negative environmental damage caused by Russia. As of last February, more than 1,500 serious cases had been documented In Ecoaction Environmental warfare map. Several thousand other cases of damage have been registered with the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine, and their financial cost is represented on its dashboard Ecozagrosa.
The destruction of the Nova Kakhovka Dam in Kherson Oblast on June 6, 2023 caused massive flooding in the region on both sides of the Dnipro River. Image via EU Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid.
Some of the most egregious cases include: The deliberate bombing of the Kakhovka Dam, which additionally threatened the safety of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant by depriving it of necessary water. amazing Reactor core and spent fuel; Damage to the marine environment in the Black Sea Dolphins They die by the hundreds; and burning fields and silos of wheat and grain that had not already been stolen through illegal freight transportation. These are the cases that make international headlines. In addition, there is pollution and chemical damage caused by indiscriminate bombing, industrial targeting and indiscriminate burning of sites. Even more insidious is growing military power industrial Exploitation of virginity Protected land And Forests In the Donetsk and Luhansk regions financea job The engine of war in Russia.
By June 2022, the Working Group on the Environmental Consequences of War in Ukraine (UWEC), which is the body that contains The Ukrainian Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources was created. He. SheOur goal is to begin analyzing and publishing environmental damage assessments to guide eventual reparations and green reconstruction. At the international level, the Council of Europe approved A Accuracy In May 2023 to create The Damage Register of Ukraine (RD4U), which held its inaugural meeting in December 2023. In the coming months, RD4U will Developing registry rules and regulations to facilitate acceptance of damage claims from spring 2024 Claims categories This will include environmental damage.
On the other hand, legislative reviews around the world are expanding the boundaries of legal rules, expanding our understanding and responsible management of the ecosystems that support us. The world is watching Ukraine go to war, and it is forced to test these new principles that will set a precedent for the future.
With environmental crime already widespread in the world, the environmental damage caused by war will exacerbate the potential for environmental and societal collapse. The EU's review of Directive 2008/99/EC on environmental protection through criminal law aims to correct this imbalance by strengthening the list of crimes, means of investigation and penalties to be pursued. Many other states go further, recognizing the seriousness of environmental crime as ecocide and seeking to include ecocide in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court as the fifth international crime.
Existing guarantees
Some protections already exist within the laws of war. According to the Geneva Convention, “the use of methods or means of warfare which are intended or expected to cause serious, widespread and long-term damage to the natural environment is prohibited.” This item has so far received little international or even national attention. The only significant international sanctions for causing environmental damage were in the UN Security Council Resolution 687 Forcing Iraq to pay compensation to Kuwait for damages resulting from the 1990 Iraqi invasion, including 14.7 billion US dollars To set fire to Kuwaiti oil wells. With Russia's continued membership in the UN Security Council, the chances of reaching a similar outcome for current violations are unlikely without implementing any long-discussed reform in the UN Security Council.
Both Russia and Ukraine have extensive environmental protection laws, including at the constitutional level. The Constitution of Russia states that “every individual has the right to enjoy a favorable environment, to obtain accurate information about his condition and to be compensated for damage to his health and property caused by environmental transgressions” (Article 42). In addition, “everyone must preserve nature and the environment, and carefully handle natural resources” (Article 58). Russia has been directly or indirectly linked to environmental protection, due to Soviet views when economic and social rights were considered more important than individual rights. 2001 Federal law on environmental protection Broad, including the requirement to pay compensation, implement the precautionary principle and prioritize ecosystem conservation.
Advances in law and weapons
Ukraine also has a great deal Environmental legislation It is rapidly reviewing its law enforcement system. The country is using its goal of integration with the European Union to plug loopholes in its legislation to meet EU requirements, including Chapter 27 dedicated to the environment with the “polluter pays” principle. There are extensive discussions and analyzes underway regarding how best to do this Suing Russia for environmental damage. This is stimulating discussions around the world about what role war plays in today's climate-ravaged ecosystem, and how Justice after the war It is a consideration in prevention as much as it is in the act of war. One New tool What may become available is the use of duties collected from the EU's new Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) on Russian imports to the EU.
The issue of compensation for environmental damage is gaining strength. Climate claims Lawsuits against companies and governments increase every year, as is the case with Security Council Resolution No. 687 regarding compensation for damages resulting from the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. The specter of ecocide in Ukraine is a call for the international community to seriously consider not only how the prosecution of war crimes should now be involved. compensation to environmental damage but also the need to Low carbon war In a world that still resorts to military solutions. Low-carbon warfare is often mocked by so-called military realists. However, there are clear advantages in logistics, supply and heat signature through reduced use of fossil fuels. Ukraine has pioneered this approach through the use of hacking, drones, and even resilience.Electric Cavalry“Motorcycles, whose quiet engines and zero odor give battlefield advantages over traditional combat transportation. Moreover, there is a higher moral argument in favor of a smaller footprint and less damage to civilian infrastructure. With emissions in the equation for a just world for future generations, there is an important To include forced CO2 emissions on the defense side by paying for sustainable rebuilding at net zero. Anything less than that is inconsistent with the environmental crisis facing us.
Ecocide debts
Ukraine is a microcosm of the forces at play in the climate crisis, and their willingness to jump in Green reconstruction It represents a bright future for the former Sustainable generation. It needs all the help it can get to survive and prevail, as our beacon of hope, in the face of global climate destruction. We must not stand idly by as good people doing nothing in this battle. We must ensure that the debts resulting from the destruction are repaid.
In mid-March, the seventy-fourth day of the Roman calendar, debtors in the Roman Empire had to pay their dues. Putin must be held accountable, with his war debts against humanity and against his rights and obligations that are inseparable from the ecosystem that supports us. As in the Roman Empire, a day of reckoning will come for Putin. As a man paranoid about the significance of calendar dates, caution at how Caesar paid the ultimate personal price with his life in mid-March should resonate.
Glory to Ukraine.
The original version of this article was published in London Ukrainian Review in it The first issue on a topic 'War on Mailenvironment'.
