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  5. Ecocide under the Criminal Code of Ukraine and criminal legislations of foreign countries

Almanac of law. Issue 15 (2024), pages 215–220.

DOI: 10.33663/2524-017X-2024-15-215-220

Brynzanska O. V.
Ecocide under the Criminal Code of Ukraine and criminal legislations of foreign countries

The article exameans the foreign experience of regulating criminal responsibility for ecocide or an environmental crime similar in signs of characteristics and severity. Three models of the criminal law norms on causing damage to the natural environment, the nature and extent of which reaches the threshold of ecocide, are highlighted: 1) ecocide as a serious/ particularly serious crime against the international legal order, the signs of which are determined by an open list of acts (mass destruction, poisoning, other actions that led to an ecological disaster), a comprehensive list of objects of encroachment - flora and fauna, atmosphere, soil and water resources, signs of damage are defined as «ecological catastrophe». This model is represented by post-Soviet states of East Europe and Asia and it is based on prescriptions of the Model Criminal code of the CIS states, which recommended unified list of signs of ecocide for all CIS states; 2) ecocide as a qualified kind of the crime against the environment (pollution of ecosystems, violation of waste management rules, invasion of territories defined by law), which is characterized by an intentional form of guilt and serious and lasting damage, which definitions are based on the prescriptions of Protocol I relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts but also they are defined in the articles of the domestic criminal code (France, Ecuador); 3) ecocide as a crime against humanity without revealing the features of this term (Vietnam). It was concluded that in order to determine those examples of foreign experience, the borrowing of which would contribute to the improvement of the criminal legislation of Ukraine, it is firstly necessary to define the vision of ecocide as a crime against the environment, a crime against the international order, or humanity. The directive of the European Parliament and the European Council on the criminal law protection of the environment No. 2008/99/EC with further amendments to it in terms of the regulation of ecocide can serve as a reference point in this sphere.

Key words: ecocide, environment, mass destruction, environmental damage, serious and lasting damage.

References

  1. Guidelines on the protection of the natural environment in armed conflict. International Committee of the Red
    Cross. 2020. URL: http://surl.li/qrmyf
  2. Protection of the environment through criminal law № 2021/0422(COD). 27/02/2024. European Parlament.
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  3. Ecocide / serious environmental crimes in national jurisdictions. Ecocide Law. Stop Ecocide Foundation.
    URL: https://ecocidelaw.com/existing-ecocide-laws/
  4. Criminal Code of the Republic of Moldova. 18.04.2002. UNODC. URL: http://surl.li/sawlj
  5. Criminal Code of the Republic of Tajikistan. 21.05.1998. The Warnathgroup. URL: https://www.warnathgroup.
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  9. Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia. 18.04.2003. URL: http://surl.li/sawil
  10. Criminal Code of the Kyrgyz Republic. 01.10.1997. URL: https://antislaverylaw.ac.uk/wp-content/
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  11. Penal Code of France. 01.03.1994. National Legislation. URL: http://surl.li/sawjy
  12. Organic Integral Criminal Code of Ecuador. 28.01.2014. Eco Jurisprudence Monitor. URL: http://surl.li/sawmj
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  14. Penal Code of Socialist Republic of Viet Nam. Eco Jurisprudence Monitor. URL: http://surl.li/sawkn 

Olga Vasylivna Brynzhanska,
Head of the Department of Analytical Assistance to Judges of the Supreme Court of Ukraine, Office of the Supreme Court,
Candidate of Law
ORCID: 0009-0007-4730-8060

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