In this episode, the Promise Institute’s Kate Mackintosh speaks with Shirleen Chin and Daniel Bertram about how international crimes are created. Drawing lessons from the adoption of the crime of aggression at the International Criminal Court, and with reflections on the social and political processes involved in the creation of international law, the authors consider what might be the most promising path towards an international crime of ecocide.  

Daniel Bertram is a PhD candidate at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy, where he researches ecocide’s journey towards international criminalization. The fruits of previous research projects have appeared in Global Environmental Politics, Transnational Environmental Law, and the German Law Journal. Next to his academic endeavors, Daniel reports from multilateral environmental meetings for the Earth Negotiations Bulletin.  

Shirleen Chin is the founder and director of Green Transparency, a consultancy firm that works on strategic advocacy, and she helps Stop Ecocide International (SEI) with political, legal and academic strategy. Her work has included participating in UCLA Promise Institute’s Working Group on the Proposed Definition of Ecocide, editing an Opinio Juris symposium series on Exploring the Crime of Ecocide as well as representing SEI at the International Criminal Court’s Assembly of States Parties and other multilateral events. 

This podcast is one in a series of conversations with authors of the 15 short papers in our online symposium: The Crime of Ecocide – New Perspectives, which you can find on www.ecocidelaw.com/symposium. The site also hosts a regularly updated annotated bibliography, which lists and summarizes publications on ecocide, as well as information on proposed definitions and legal developments around the world.