MASS DEFORESTATION AS A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY?
Volume
72
Pagination
1013 - 1046
DOI
10.1017/S0020589323000404
Journal
International and Comparative Law Quarterly
Issue
ISSN
0020-5893
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
This article examines whether mass deforestation could be prosecuted as a crime against humanity under Article 7 of the Rome Statute. It does so in respect of the situation in the Brazilian Legal Amazon in 2019-2021, where the unbridled exploitation and destruction of the rainforest had a disastrous impact at local, regional and global levels. The article covers three main aspects. First, it explores the existing limits of international criminal law for prosecuting mass deforestation as a crime against humanity, and the contours within which criminalization would be possible. Secondly, it discusses the challenges inherent in the anthropocentric nature of the chapeau requirement of Article 7 for the criminalization of mass deforestation under that provision. Thirdly, it analyses the extent to which mass deforestation could qualify as persecution and/or an 'other inhumane act' under Articles 7(1)(h) and (k) of the Rome Statute.
Authors
Martini, P; Holt, J; Sarliève, MCollections
- Department of Law [867]