Following a vote by the Belgian Federal Parliament on 22 February 2024, a new penal code was approved to criminalise ecocide, nationally and internationally. The EU is only a few paces behind Belgium, with the European Parliament approving proposed changes to the Directive on the Protection of the Environmental through Criminal Law, Directive 2008/99/EC (the ‘Environmental Crime Directive’), which includes criminalising qualified offences that are comparable to ecocide. The act of ecocide has been defined by lawyers on the Independent Expert Panel hosted by the Stop Ecocide Foundation as “unlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment being caused by those acts.” Environmental crime has become a significant field of criminal activity, now ranking as the fourth largest globally.
The criminalisation of ecocide has been on the Belgian agenda for some time, following the recommendation of its inclusion in the new penal code by the Belgian Expert Commission in summer 2022. Subsequently, in the end of 2022 there was a formal proposal by the Belgian Government for its inclusion, which came to fruition in the draft penal code released in July 2023, and the vote of approval last week. The new penal code that was voted in sees the imposition of strong penalties, including imprisonment for up to 20 years, and fines to be distributed to corporations of up to €1.6 million. The introduction of the code addresses the national need to prevent and penalise environmental degradation of a severe nature, and shall apply to persons with strong, high-authority decision-making power, and corporations. The code applies to the jurisdiction of the Belgian Federal Authority, with reach to the North Sea and to the management of nuclear waste. Support for the code has amassed among civil society groups, as demonstrated by the Greenpeace petition which received over 43,000 signatures.
Ongoing steps are also being taken on an EU level towards replacing the current Environmental Crime Directive, and strengthening the protection of the environment through legislation. A vote ensued on 27 February 2024 and the European Parliament approved the updated directive’s expanded list of environmental crimes, and these new rules include ‘qualified offences’ which are acknowledged as leading to the destruction of the ecosystem, and thus ‘comparable’ to ecocide. The expansive list of environmental crimes now includes issues such as the spread of invasive species and water abstraction, and the EU may be seen as the first international institution to criminalise damage to the environment in its most serious forms. EU countries will have a window of two years to implement these measures through their own legislative systems, with a choice on whether fines should be introduced for corporations. The outcome also advocates for ecocide to be recognised as a significant international crime, particularly by the International Criminal Court, and for there to be strict punishment imposed on those involved.
This step sits in the backdrop of a more international move towards the recognition and criminalisation of ecocide. Becoming the twelfth country globally to criminalise ecocide in statute, Belgium has taken a step further than the French legal recognition of ecocide in 2021, and joined countries including Russia and Vietnam in criminalising the act.
This represents a significant step for both Belgium and the EU, and the increasing legislative initiatives taken to penalise those responsible for contributing to environmental degradation is a necessary step towards responding to the global climate crisis.
Click here for the untranslated New Penal Code
Click here to read more, via the press release by Stop Ecocide International
Read more about the steps being taken on an EU level in updating the Environmental Crime Directive here