Mexican senator calls on government to support international crime of ecocide
Speaking from Glasgow during the COP26 climate talks, Senator Raúl Paz Alonzo has asked the Mexican Government to recognise ecocide as the fifth Crime against World Peace and Security.
A few weeks ago, Senator Paz called on the Mexican Congress to recognise ecocide as as a serious crime in the federal penal code. Now, from Glasgow and in the context of COP 26, the Senator has urged the Federal Government of Mexico to be the first Latin American country to expressly support the inclusion of Ecocide in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, an initiative already supported by Belgium, France, and island states such as Vanuatu and the Maldives, as well as the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Pope Francis, and also the European Parliament.
From Glasgow, Senator Paz said: “I am meeting with the Stop Ecocide organisation in Glasgow to announce two things: that we are presenting in Mexico the proposal to include ecocide as a serious crime in the Federal Criminal Code and that we are calling on the Mexican State to support the international initiative to make ecocide an international crime, as Pope Francis has been pushing for. We are at a crucial moment in the history of humanity and we need measures like this to face the current climate emergency.”
If Mexico passes this law, it would be the first Latin American country to recognise ecocide, which would prevent and, if necessary, punish major environmental catastrophes that until now have been committed with impunity or only incurred an insignificant fine compared to the damage caused.
The appeal has been referred by the Senate to the Foreign Affairs Committee and the President of the Republic is expected to issue a response in the next few days. Senator Paz has also pointed out: “This has been an effort of several months and here in Glasgow, at COP26, we show that we are here to work on the changes that Mexico and the world need”.
Paz Alonzo has decided to join the Stop Ecocide initiative after witnessing, as president of the Water Resources Commission, that the country has witnessed one of the worst droughts in 20 years, and after seeing how in the same period the legal frameworks have not been updated to deal with crimes against the environment.
Last Tuesday, the Senator participated in an independent event during COP26, organised by Stop Ecocide International, which dealt with how to protect Mother Earth, from the Sacred Guardianship of indigenous peoples to Ecocide Law.
Maite Mompó, coordinator of Stop Ecocide Americas, said: “It is vital that Latin American states join the global movement to make ecocide an international crime and it is important that they also consider introducing this new crime into their own legislation. In the face of the climate and ecological crisis we are experiencing, we need to put an end to this massive destruction of nature and to do so we urgently need to introduce the crime of ecocide into the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Stop Ecocide welcomes the Senator;s initiative and we have also asked that it be supported by all political groups in a non-partisan way, because protecting the environment and the future of new generations is a task to which we must all commit ourselves”.