{"id":17134,"date":"2024-01-20T15:29:29","date_gmt":"2024-01-20T20:29:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/georgetown-law-journal\/?page_id=17134"},"modified":"2025-05-12T11:12:52","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T15:12:52","slug":"dishonoring-the-earth-ecocide-as-prosecutable-genocide-against-indigenous-people","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/georgetown-law-journal\/in-print\/volume-111\/volume-111-issue-6-june-2023\/dishonoring-the-earth-ecocide-as-prosecutable-genocide-against-indigenous-people\/","title":{"rendered":"Dishonoring the Earth: Ecocide as Prosecutable Genocide Against Indigenous People"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Global Indigenous<span class=\"s5\"><span class=\"s2\"><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\n\t\t<span class='js-footnote footnote'>\n\t\t\t<button type='button' aria-controls='abstract_footnote_17134_1' class='footnote_inline_btn js-footnote-toggle-btn' aria-describedby='footnote_btn_text_abstract_footnote_17134_1'>\n\t\t\t\t<sup class='footnote_inline_btn_number'>1<\/sup>\n\t\t\t\t<span id='footnote_btn_text_abstract_footnote_17134_1' class='visually_hide'>Open footnote #1<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/button>\n\t\n\t\t\t<cite id='abstract_footnote_17134_1' class='footnote_content_cite js-footnote-content'>\n\t\t\t\t<span class='footnote_content_wrap'>\n\t\t\t\t\t<button type='button' class='footnote_content_number js-footnote-toggle-btn' aria-controls='abstract_footnote_17134_1' tabindex='-1'>1<\/button>\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<span class='footnote_content_wrap_inner'>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class='footnote_content'>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class='visually_hide'>Footnote #1 content: <\/span>Indigenous is hereinafter capitalized to affirm Indigenous people as autonomous subjects with agency, rather than indigenous, which refers to a characteristic of a person. <em>See<\/em> DANIEL HEATH JUSTICE, WHY INDIGENOUS LITERATURES MATTER 6, 8 (2018) (\u201cThe capital \u2018I\u2019 is important here, as it affirms a distinctive political status of peoplehood, rather than describing an exploitable commodity, like an \u2018indigenous plant\u2019 or a \u2018native mammal.\u2019\u201d).\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class='footnote_close_btn_wrap'>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<button type='button' class='footnote_close_btn js-footnote-close-btn' aria-label='Back to content'>close<\/button>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/cite>\n\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/span><\/span><\/span>people exist as one with the environment, with no western binary between people and nature.<span class=\"s5\"><span class=\"s2\"><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\n\t\t<span class='js-footnote footnote'>\n\t\t\t<button type='button' aria-controls='abstract_footnote_17134_2' class='footnote_inline_btn js-footnote-toggle-btn' aria-describedby='footnote_btn_text_abstract_footnote_17134_2'>\n\t\t\t\t<sup class='footnote_inline_btn_number'>2<\/sup>\n\t\t\t\t<span id='footnote_btn_text_abstract_footnote_17134_2' class='visually_hide'>Open footnote #2<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/button>\n\t\n\t\t\t<cite id='abstract_footnote_17134_2' class='footnote_content_cite js-footnote-content'>\n\t\t\t\t<span class='footnote_content_wrap'>\n\t\t\t\t\t<button type='button' class='footnote_content_number js-footnote-toggle-btn' aria-controls='abstract_footnote_17134_2' tabindex='-1'>2<\/button>\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<span class='footnote_content_wrap_inner'>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class='footnote_content'>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class='visually_hide'>Footnote #2 content: <\/span><em>See<\/em> Sarah Wright, Kate Lloyd, Sandie Suchet-Pearson, Laklak Burarrwanga, Matalena Tofa &amp; Bawaka Country, <em>Telling Stories in, Through and with Country: Engaging with Indigenous and Morethan-Human Methodologies at Bawaka, NE Australia<\/em>, 29 J. CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY 39, 39\u201360 (2012); Miguel Astor-Aguilera, Latin America: Indigenous Cosmovision, <em>in<\/em> ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK OF RELIGION AND ECOLOGY 158, 161\u201362 (Willis Jenkins et al. eds., 2017). <em>See generally<\/em> ROBIN WALL KIMMERER, BRAIDING SWEETGRASS: INDIGENOUS WISDOM, SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE, AND TEACHINGS OF PLANTS (2013) (detailing the symbiotic and nonbinary intricacies between Indigenous people and nature).\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class='footnote_close_btn_wrap'>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<button type='button' class='footnote_close_btn js-footnote-close-btn' aria-label='Back to content'>close<\/button>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/cite>\n\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/span><\/span><\/span>Destruction of Indigenous people is reciprocal with environmental destruction. Indigenous people, though only six percent of the global population, protect eighty percent of the world\u2019s biodiversity and occupy exceedingly environmentally vulnerable regions.<span class=\"s5\"><span class=\"s2\"><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\n\t\t<span class='js-footnote footnote'>\n\t\t\t<button type='button' aria-controls='abstract_footnote_17134_3' class='footnote_inline_btn js-footnote-toggle-btn' aria-describedby='footnote_btn_text_abstract_footnote_17134_3'>\n\t\t\t\t<sup class='footnote_inline_btn_number'>3<\/sup>\n\t\t\t\t<span id='footnote_btn_text_abstract_footnote_17134_3' class='visually_hide'>Open footnote #3<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/button>\n\t\n\t\t\t<cite id='abstract_footnote_17134_3' class='footnote_content_cite js-footnote-content'>\n\t\t\t\t<span class='footnote_content_wrap'>\n\t\t\t\t\t<button type='button' class='footnote_content_number js-footnote-toggle-btn' aria-controls='abstract_footnote_17134_3' tabindex='-1'>3<\/button>\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<span class='footnote_content_wrap_inner'>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class='footnote_content'>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class='visually_hide'>Footnote #3 content: <\/span>Indigenous people are specifically at risk for their role in protecting the world\u2019s richest resource regions and biodiversity. <em>See<\/em> Climate Academy by Grounded, <em>Why Protecting Indigenous Communities Can Also Help Save the Earth<\/em>, GUARDIAN (Oct. 12, 2020, 9:30 AM), https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/ climate-academy\/2020\/oct\/12\/indigenous-communities-protect-biodiversity-curb-climate-crisis [https:\/\/ perma.cc\/6GG5-E8V8]; Marcia Langton &amp; Zane Ma Rhea, <em>Traditional Indigenous Biodiversity-Related Knowledge<\/em>, 36 AUSTL. ACAD. &amp; RSCH. LIBRS. 45, 46\u201347 (2013).\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class='footnote_close_btn_wrap'>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<button type='button' class='footnote_close_btn js-footnote-close-btn' aria-label='Back to content'>close<\/button>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/cite>\n\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/span><\/span><\/span>Because of these reasons, the International Criminal Court (the \u201cICC\u201d) could be utilized to achieve justice by prosecuting ecocide as genocide, should impacted Indigenous peoples choose to utilize it.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Continue Reading <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/georgetown-law-journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/26\/2023\/10\/GT-GGLJ230037.pdf\">Dishonoring the Earth: Ecocide as Prosecutable Genocide Against Indigenous People.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/georgetown-law-journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/26\/2023\/10\/GT-GGLJ230037.pdf\" class=\"pdfemb-viewer\" style=\"\" data-width=\"max\" data-height=\"max\" data-toolbar=\"bottom\" data-toolbar-fixed=\"off\">GT-GGLJ230037<\/a>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Global Indigenouspeople exist as one with the environment, with no western binary between people and nature.Destruction of Indigenous people is reciprocal with environmental destruction. Indigenous people, though only six percent [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10024,"featured_media":0,"parent":17120,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"abstract.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":"","_tec_slr_enabled":"","_tec_slr_layout":""},"class_list":["post-17134","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"ticketed":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/georgetown-law-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/georgetown-law-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/georgetown-law-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/georgetown-law-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10024"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/georgetown-law-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17134"}],"version-history":[{"count":33,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/georgetown-law-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23255,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/georgetown-law-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17134\/revisions\/23255"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/georgetown-law-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/georgetown-law-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}