The seed Polly Higgins planted has reached the door of the court she always meant it for. This September Vanuatu, Fiji and Samoa formally proposed to the International Criminal Court that Ecocide be added to the Rome Statute as a crime, so that the gravest destruction of the living world can stand beside the gravest crimes against people.
It is fitting that this step comes from the Pacific, from island peoples whose homes, waters and reefs carry the weight of harms done far away, and who have shown again and again in these years that a small nation can carry a large truth. Their proposal builds on the definition the expert panel gave Ecocide in 2021, and on the long, patient work of all who carried Polly’s vision on after her passing.
Para PachaMama first spoke of Ecocide as a crime against Peace more than a decade ago, when it still sounded like a dream to most. Now the nations are invited to decide, and the question is no longer whether such harm can be named, but whether the world is ready to name it together.
Light a candle for Polly tonight, and for the Pacific nations who have taken up her work.
Proposal submitted by Vanuatu, Fiji and Samoa on 9 September 2024. Read Ecocide Is Given Its Words and In Memory of Polly Higgins.