Overview

• Specialists at a UNAM-hosted seminar called for ecocide to be treated as an international crime due to its community-wide impacts.
• Advocates noted a formal proposal to amend the Rome Statute was lodged in September 2024 to add ecocide to the ICC’s remit, which remains under deliberation.
• Legal efforts in the region are uneven, with bills advanced in Bolivia, Brazil, Peru and Argentina, Chile recognizing “grave environmental harm,” and Colombia referencing ecocide in its penal code.
• Mexico has repeatedly attempted but failed to pass a national offense, while Mexico City, Jalisco and Chiapas have adopted related provisions that lack harmonization with international definitions.
• Researchers highlighted Latin America’s high toll of attacks on environmental defenders and urged a region-specific definition to reflect local histories and conditions.