October at The Promise Europe

New Pro Bono Project, Amicus Brief African Court and much more!

We are delighted to share that our Faculty Director Professor Anna Spain Bradley, has been appointed as the MacArthur Foundation Chair in International Justice and Human Rights. Reflecting on the appointment, she noted:

“We are living in a time in human history when the ideals of international justice and universal human rights are under threat. Being named the MacArthur Foundation Chair in International Justice and Human Rights, at this moment in particular, is a great honor. It is also a responsibility I take seriously.”

Anna is an international legal scholar specializing in human rights, racism and global governance, and international judicial thought. We look forward to Anna's continued leadership at a time when advancing international justice and human rights is more critical than ever.

13 UCLA Law students are working on a pro bono project with UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, Mr. Pedro Arrojo- Agudo to draft a report on the role of water as a weapon in conflicts.

The students’ research analyzes the intersections of water, conflict and human rights in six countries - Iraq, Palestine, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, and Yemen - and underscores key obligations of States under international humanitarian law and international human rights law. The report will be co-published by the Special Rapporteur and the Promise Institute in early 2026.

This opinion piece, by our Executive Director, Kate Mackintosh, published in Icarus Complex Magazine, explains what ecocide is, why it should be recognised as an international crime and how it is intrinsically related to human rights!

Criminalising ecocide is about recognising that when ecosystems collapse so do the conditions for human dignity. And environmental destruction consistently harms the most marginalised first. Seen through a human rights approach it becomes clear: making ecocide a crime is not only an environmental imperative, it is a human rights imperative.

Read the full article here: https://icaruscomplexmagazine.com/ecocide-is-the-missing-crime/

We are preparing to submit an amicus brief to the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights for its upcoming Advisory Opinion on Climate Change, together with our partners at Climate Counsel, the Sudan Human Rights Hub, and SOMO. Our submission will offer legal analysis to assist the Court in interpreting states’ obligations under the African Charter and international law in the context of carbon markets.

Our submission focuses on the rapidly expanding carbon offsetting industry and its impacts on human rights across the African continent. As carbon credit trading accelerates, projects led by companies in the Global North are rolling out across Africa without adequate safeguards or community consent. These schemes have already led to forced evictions of Indigenous peoples from their ancestral lands and violations of both individual and collective rights, while extracting most of the benefits out of Africa.

The carbon market industry, often described as perpetuating “carbon colonialism” and a “new scramble for Africa", underscores the urgent need for a rights-based approach to climate change mitigation.

Our brief highlights States’ legal obligations to uphold human rights in this context, calling for climate action that is just, equitable, and sustainable, rather than one that reproduces patterns of exploitation and extraction in the name of climate change mitigation.

Our ED Kate Mackintosh was at UCLA Law earlier this month with a packed agenda!

She delivered guest lectures about the ICJ Advisory Opinion on climate change, as well as on human rights and the protection of the environment, and on the emerging international crime of ecocide. She was able to catch up with colleagues and students, including those interested in following the UCLA in The Hague Programme.

The visit coincided with the conference marking the 50th anniversary of the Helsinki Accords, co-hosted by the UCLA Burkle Center. Kate joined Professor Anna Spain Bradley and Professor Hannah Garry to discuss the evolving role of human rights, emphasizing decentralized approaches, civic engagement, and peaceful resistance.

Our ED Kate Mackintosh had the honor of addressing the Croatian Bar Association (CBA) this week on the topic Criminalizing the Mass Destruction of Nature: Ecocide in National and International Law, along with Climate Leader and Croatian Attorney at Law Marija Pujo Tadić.

The discussion explored the legal implications of large-scale ecosystem destruction, the role of the International Criminal Court in defining ecocide as a crime, and Croatia’s position in the evolving European and global legal framework.

Many thanks to the President of the CBA, Iva Markotić Bagarić and General Secretary Mirna Skelin for the invitation.

We are very excited about tomorrow’s conference and look forward to hearing from all the brilliant speakers.

The conference is fully booked, but if you want join us in person and are not registered, please contact us. You can also join us online!

Three more articles from the forthcoming Special Issue of  The International Journal of Human Rights  have been published. Authors of the first two articles, Lovleen Bhullar and Jonathan Liljeblad will be presenting at the conference on Friday.

Gita Parihar and Lovleen Bhullar, "Reviving India’s river goddesses: ecocide, the human right to a healthy environment and rights of nature"

This paper examines how three legal concepts, criminalising ecocide, recognising the human right to a healthy environment, and the rights of nature, could help address the climate, biodiversity, and pollution crises. Focusing on India’s Ganga and Yamuna rivers, it asks whether recognising ecocide as an international crime could offer stronger protection where existing approaches have failed.

Jonathan Liljeblad, "Intersections of ecocide, indigenous struggle, & pro-democracy conflict: implications of post-coup Myanmar for ecocide in international criminal law"

Myanmar’s post-coup conflict reveals how Indigenous struggle, pro-democracy movements, and ecocide intersect. The paper links intensified resource extraction in Indigenous territories with political repression, showing how these dynamics can inform current movents that seek to advance ecocide in international criminal law.

Giovanna M. Frisso "The criminalisation of ecocide in Brazil and Indigenous peoples’ rights"

This article explores Brazil’s efforts to criminalise ecocide through the lens of Indigenous rights and worldviews. Adopting a decolonial approach, it argues that genuine environmental protection must recognise rivers, forests, and animals as living subjects, and ground the definition of ecocide in Indigenous knowledge and land rights.

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