Ecocide signifies widespread environmental damage, which affects an immense number of people and encompasses environmental damage caused by armed conflicts as well as damage caused to the planet by the multinational corporations. Due to the extent of damages caused and potentially existential threat to humanity, more and more vocal supporters of amending the Rome Statute with the fifth fundamental crime of ecocide have emerged. Supporters of ecocide have collided with equally determined opponents of the revision of the Rome Statute. The latter are warning against the vagueness of definitions of the crime set forward, which constitute too high of an obstacle for a successful prosecution of environmental crimes (such as determination of the mental element of the crime) and general unsuitability of the International Criminal Court for the prosecution of the ecocide. The Master’s thesis tries hypothesis that the crime of ecocide is of the same gravity and seriousness as other fundamental international crimes and therefore should be included in the Rome Statute.
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