Quakers shine spotlight on ecocide
Two online sessions for a course on ecocide buy Woodbrooke take place this weekend
A Woodbrooke course highlighting the campaign to make ecocide an international crime starts this weekend. The two online sessions will be run by Hilary Saunders who has been working to raise awareness of the campaign for several years. The idea for the course emerged when Bainito Wamalwa, clerk of Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC)’s Africa Section, and Hezron Masitsa, justice and peace secretary for FWCC, met with Kenyan representatives from the Stop Ecocide International campaign. FWCC is running the course in partnership with Woodbrooke.
Hilary Saunders, from Redland Meeting, told the Friend: ‘We’re linking up with FWCC because, essentially, if you’re going to get the Rome Statute amended to include ecocide, that depends on member states who have ratified the Rome Statute actually voting for that change. And there are 124 member states. The traditional way requires fifty per cent of the member states voting to support the amendment, and, if they do, it can remain on the table for other states to decide to back over time. When it gets to two-thirds, it becomes law.
‘Having said that,’ she added, ‘aggression was added as a crime against peace by consensus, and so, given the dire circumstances that many people are now facing, due to climate warming and environmental damage – especially caused by decisions made by huge corporations – it is possible it could happen by consensus.’
The first session of the online course, called ‘Addressing Ecocide: Quaker Contributions’, will run on 5 September, with the second following on 8 October. The course will explore the concept of ecocide, including its definition and the steps needed to make it an international crime. It will also discuss Quaker concerns about how this might conflict with their commitment to restorative justice. Participants will learn about the process of amending the Rome Statute to make ecocide the fifth crime against peace.
Hilary Saunders said: ‘If you look at it globally, there has been a lot of work happening on this in the EU. Italy is considering it at the moment, as is Peru, so it is not only European countries. In Africa, there are twenty-nine states that have ratified the Rome Statute, and if those states realised that they could actually have a vote on this, that could make a big difference. A lot of African states are really suffering due to the climate crisis and other appalling environmental damage, mostly due to multinational companies. It makes me feel hopeful that the countries that have been worst affected by the climate crisis may get the legal protection they need.’
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