May 4, 17-18 CET
In this webinar Kate Mackintosh, Executive Director of Promise Institute for Human Rights at UCLA School of Law, and Lisa Oldring, legal advisor to Stop Ecocide Canada, will argue that an international crime of ecocide that is informed by human rights law and practice in its application, holds the potential to enhance accountability for serious environmental harm and prevent further damage, protect human rights as well as deliver on climate justice.
The purpose of international criminal law is to contribute to ending impunity for the perpetrators of the most serious crimes of international concern, and in so doing, help to prevent such crimes from occurring. To date, however, there is no international crime prohibiting acts of mass destruction of the environment, in spite of the catastrophic consequences that such acts have on the natural systems on which human life depends. The addition of ecocide as the fifth crime under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court would help to fill this accountability gap.
Susanne Sweet, Associate Professor at Stockholm School of Economics, and Johan Hall, research officer at the Swedish Trade Union Confederation, will comment on the presentation from a corporate social resonsibility and workers’ rights perspective, respectively.
Speakers:
Lisa Oldring, legal advisor to Stop Ecocide Canada, served previously as a senior advisor with the UN Human Rights Office. She is currently a PhD candidate at the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies at Leiden University.
Kate Mackintosh is the Executive Director of the Promise Institute for Human Rights at UCLA School of Law. She served as the deputy chair of the independent legal panel which presented a legal definition of ecocide as a crime in 2021. Kate has worked in the fields of human rights, international criminal justice, and the protection of civilians for over two decades. She was involved in the development of international criminal law in its fledgling years and contributed to defining many elements of this new area of law, such as the elements of rape as an international crime, the definition of protected persons, and the scope of complicity for international crimes.
Susanne Sweet, Associate Professor at Stockholm School of Economics and a Research Director at Center for Sustainability Research, CSR. Susanne is engaging in research, education and stakeholder activities on a broad range of topics relating to corporate social and environmental sustainability.
Johan Hall, research officer at LO-Sweden responsible for policy regarding climate, environment and energy issues. Member of the Sustainability committee of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC).
