russia's ecocide: Ukrainian ecologists collect evidence for International Criminal Court
Specialists from the international charity organization "Ecology-Pravo-Lyudina" have been examining the places of russian crimes since the beginning of the war — they take soil samples and record everything on photos and videos. The carefully collected materials will be handed over to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
From now on, Ukrainian eco-experts are carriers of unique work experience because the world has never seen such scale of environmental damage caused by the aggressor to the environment of Ukraine as a result of hostilities.
In order to collect and record cases of ecocide, experts go to the scene of the crime – these are either de-occupied territories or places where russian missiles hit.
"EPL made 12 trips to Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Mykolaiv, and Kherson regions. During each trip, our ecologists collected information about the state of natural complexes, took samples from shell craters, and took photos. Also, our specialists visited two national natural parks in the de-occupied territories — Svyati Gory National Park and Kamianska Sich National Park; together with the directors of the National Park, field trips were made to the territory. And joint studies of the effects of military actions on park ecosystems have already been planned," said Olena Kravchenko, executive director and EPL board member.
"She noted that the relevance of evidence, its probative force, and weight are fundamental criteria.
For example, the ICC requires witnesses to testify in person, except in certain cases. In the case of a crime against the environment, these can be space photographs, photographs taken in accordance with the requirements," explains Kravchenko.
The environmentalist explained that before recognizing the evidence as valid, the ICC studies its origin.
"In other words: where this information was obtained. In order to recognize a document, it is important to understand its origin. Any decision to admit evidence in confidence must be in writing and consistent with a uniform policy. Although there is a provision in the ICC Rules that allows certain information to be kept confidential during the trial, as long as it is used only to obtain new evidence, this is an exception and should not be relied upon. The presumption of innocence should also be remembered. These approaches may seem a bit burdensome, but they are the basis of careful information gathering and argument presentation. It should also be remembered that indirect evidence is admissible in the International Criminal Court," emphasized Olena Kravchenko, executive director, and EPL board member.
As a result of the russian armed aggression, damage to the environment of Ukraine was caused to the amount of more than 1.35 trillion hryvnias. At hearings in the EU Parliament in Strasbourg, Environment Minister Ruslan Strilets emphasized that air pollution damages caused by the war currently amount to about 25 billion euros, and another 11.4 billion euros are needed to eliminate the damage caused to the soil. About 20% of nature reserves are under threat.
