Volume 7: Issue | Numéro 2 (2011)
Sébastien Jodoin and Yolanda Saito
The existing approach of states to the global objective of sustainable development evinces a clear failure to address acts and conduct that are unsustainable in fundamental ways. Populations around the world are experiencing the contamination of their freshwater sources and critical ecosystems, the embezzlement of state resources, the forced labour of children and women, and the discriminatory denial of access to food, shelter, medical care, education, and cultural freedoms without adequate legal recourse. This article argues that serious violations of the International Covenant of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights and severe environmental damage can strike at the very foundations of the economic, social and environmental pillars of sustainable development. It outlines the legal foundations and possible legal pathways of a new crime under international law aimed at acts and conduct that have severe consequences on the long-term health, safety and means of survival of any identifiable group or collectivity of humans. Crimes against future generations recognizes the power of individual criminal liability to fill the current governance gap that provides the permissive environment for transnational corporations and states to deny populations the basic living and environmental conditions to take first steps towards their own sustainable development.
Frédéric Mégret
Jodoin and Saito’s proposals for Offences Against Future Generations is an interesting prospective exercise and a welcome effort to work on the intersection of international criminal law with environmental, economic and social issues. However, the way in which the notion is constructed is somewhat misleading in that the idea of offences against future generations is really a shorthand for grave environmental, economic or social crimes occurring today that happen to have potentially long term impacts. As such it is not clear, for example, why the proposal could not (except for tactical rather than principled reasons) be subsumed under an extended understanding of the notion of crimes against humanity. In other words, the proposal does not take seriously the idea of crimes against future generations and in particular fails to incorporate much current thinking on duties towards such generations. The article proposes some thoughts on what taking the idea of crimes against future generations seriously might involve. At this stage, such an exercise certainly seems to create quite novel issues for criminal law, although none seem insurmountable as long as one circumscribes the idea of crimes against future generations to the most clear cut cases of deliberate harm to future interests.
Émilie Gaillard
Faire appel à la notion de crimes contre les générations futures est assurément la marque de la progression d’une nouvelle conscience de responsabilité envers l’avenir, la condition humaine future, les autres espèces vivantes et l’environnement. Elle contribue à un changement de paradigme temporel déjà en marche aussi spécifique que nécessaire de notre temps. Reflet d’un nouvel imaginaire international, le projet de formalisation de crimes contre les générations futures recèle des potentialités de transformations inédites et puissantes sur le champ juridique. En prenant appui sur les théories éthiques de la responsabilité transgénérationnelle, il est permis de fournir un éclairage spécifique de la notion de crimes contre les générations futures. Des affinements théoriques peuvent s'avérer nécessaires en considération du contexte de connaissances. C’est une véritable conversion intellectuelle qui se profile avec l’admission d’un principe de non-discrimination temporelle en vertu duquel l’absence d’existence temporelle ne serait plus synonyme d’absence de droits ni de garantie juridique. Une complexification des logiques juridiques pour la mise en œuvre des crimes contre les générations futures est alors imaginable. Formuler des crimes contre les générations futures est également maïeutique en ce qu'ils appellent dans leur sillage la consécration d’un principe de dignité des générations futures. Un tel principe insufflerait une dynamique de recomposition du droit des droits de l’homme en l’ouvrant à la perspective transgénérationnelle. Des perspectives prospectives pour la notion de crimes contre les générations futures sont ouvertes avec fide d'intégrer également la protection de la condition humaine future. Quelques mises en garde prospectives sont formulées.
Disclosure of Environmental Law Enforcement in Canada: Lessons from America
Meredith Cairns, Ceyda Turan and William Amos
Publication of environmental enforcement information is an effective means of deterring potential offenders and allowing the public to make informed choices about the environmental risks to which they could be exposed. This paper critically assesses the federal government’s efforts to provide online public access to environmental enforcement information. While the federal-provincial divide is often pointed at as an explanation for the fragmented nature of environmental law in Canada, we contend that the exercise of political will by successive federal governments can create a holistic approach to reporting environmental enforcement information. An analysis of the enforcement reporting practices in the United States, also a federal state with no clear constitutional jurisdiction over the environment, illustrates the possibility and benefits of a centralized database on environmental enforcement data. By comparing Canada’s online enforcement information to what is available in the United States, we make recommendations as to how Canada can make improvements to its domestic system.
