A New Crime of Ecocide: Opportunities, Challenges and Implications for the UK
On 2 February 2024, Dr Suwita Hani Randhawa (Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations) convened a workshop to discuss the opportunities, challenges and implications that a new crime of ecocide presents for the UK’s domestic and foreign policies.
Supported by an Impact Acceleration Award from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), the workshop brought together a diverse group of external stakeholders, all of whom are actively engaged in ongoing efforts to criminalize ecocide in the UK.
This included notable politicians and activists, such as: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party Peer and former leader of the Green Party of England and Wales); Emma Crane (Head of Policy and Legislation at Peers for the Planet); Nina de Ayala Parker (Camden Councillor); Carla Denyer (Co-leader of the Green Party of England and Wales and Bristol City Councillor; Monica Lennon (MSP for Central Scotland); Kerry McCarthy (MP for Bristol East and Shadow Minister for Climate Change); Jojo Mehta, CEO and Co-Founder of Stop Ecocide International; and Chidi Oti Obihara (Advisor to Stop Ecocide International).
Academics with an interest in ecocide, climate justice and green politics were also present, including: Dr Jane Kirkpatrick (Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, UWE Bristol); Professor Kate Mackintosh (Executive Director, UCLA Law Promise Institute Europe), Professor Damien Short (Director of Human Rights Consortium and Reader in Human Rights, University of London) and Professor David Whyte (Professor of Climate Justice, Queen Mary University of London).
In recent months, ecocide has been the subject of increasing political discussion and legislative efforts in the UK. In September 2023, Camden became the first UK council to call for ecocide’s recognition as an international crime and a Private Member’s Bill (Ecocide Bill) was recently introduced in the House of Lords by Baroness Boycott. In Scotland, Monica Lennon (MSP for Central Scotland) has proposed the introduction of the crime of ecocide under Scottish law, and her (Proposed) Ecocide (Prevention) (Scotland) Bill has been open for public consultation since November 2023. Several UK political parties, including the Labour and Green Parties, have also expressed support for an international crime of ecocide.
These developments are reflective of deepening global sentiment on the necessity of criminalizing ecocide. In November 2023, the European Union became the first international body to criminalise wide-scale environmental damage by including acts comparable to ecocide within the bloc’s revised crime directive. Furthermore, national bills on ecocide are currently being discussed in over 10 national parliaments. Since 2017, ecocide has also the subject of an ongoing global campaign spearheaded by Stop Ecocide International, which is pushing for its recognition as a crime under international law.
However, the UK Government is currently opposed to ecocide: it neither supports proposals to recognize an international crime of ecocide, nor intends to introduce domestic legislation on ecocide. Considering the current global ecological crisis though, there is a critical need for the UK Government to reconsider its current position.
As the UK Government’s stance on ecocide has not yet been the subject of public discussion, the workshop provided the opportunity to critically engage with this pressing topic. Moreover, given that the small grouping of UK politicians and activists campaigning on ecocide have not yet explored opportunities to collaborate, the workshop also offered a strategic space for them to discuss how to coordinate action towards their shared goals.
Drawing on her expertise on the process of international criminalization, Dr Suwita Hani Randhawa played a leading and facilitative role at the workshop. The discussions centred on two central objectives: the development of cross-party strategies to support legislative change on ecocide in the UK, as well as mechanisms to encourage the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to reconsider its official diplomatic stance on ecocide.
The discussions were insightful, stimulating and thought-provoking – and were captured in visual form by Camille Aubry, a live illustrator and resident of the Pervasive Media Studios.
Dr Suwita Hani Randhawa will now be taking the lead to operationalize the ideas explored at the workshop, all of which are aimed at mainstreaming ecocide within UK politics.
The workshop and its participants will be featured in the upcoming episode of The Ecocide Report, a podcast curated by Stop Ecocide International.
Vice-Chancellor’s Early Career Development Award
Supported by a Vice-Chancellor’s Early Career Development Award, Dr Suwita Hani Randhawa is currently undertaking a research project on ecocide, “The Criminalization of Ecocide: A Novel Response to the Climate Emergency”.
Her ongoing research has featured in a diverse range of outlets, including: an op-ed in Open Democracy; an invited blog on Monica Lennon’s campaign website; and written evidence for the Lords Select Committee on European Affairs’ inquiry on the “Implications of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for UK-EU relations”.
She was recently awarded a competitive Early Career Small Research Grant from the British International Studies Association (BISA), which will support archival research on ecocide at the United Nations Archives in Geneva this spring.
She will be presenting her research at two upcoming conferences, the International Studies Association (ISA) Annual Conference in San Francisco, USA and the British International Studies Association (BISA) Annual Conference in Birmingham, UK.
As part of the 11th Workshops in International Studies, organized by the European International Studies Association, she and Dr Alex Hoseason (Aston University) are also co-organizing the first academic workshop on “Ecocide in International Relations”, which aims to foster greater dialogue between a small emerging group of International Relations scholars interested in ecocide with other ecocide researchers across the social sciences.
At UWE Bristol, Dr Suwita Hani Randhawa delivers research-led teaching on the undergraduate Politics and International Relations degree programme – and she is planning to channel her research into the development of a new specialist module on Ecocide and Climate Justice.