International Criminal Law – a promising pathway to promoting global environmental protection?

This thesis examines whether international criminal law is a suitable means to promote global environmental protection. In essence, the work explores whether the current regulatory lacunae, which significantly hamper environmental protection at the international level, could be remedied through the incorporation of a fifth crime of ecocide into the Rome Statute. The paper argues against the inclusion of a fifth core crime into the Rome Statute due to considerable impediments to the enforcement of such a crime. These obstacles particularly stem from the nature of international criminal law and the structure of the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Instead, the establishment of an International Environmental Court is favoured due to its flexible embedding in the international legal system. An International Environmental Court is detached from core principles in international criminal law, and is thus better suited to prosecute an international crime against the environment.