Beyond the ICC Lens: Expanding Transitional Justice to Address Environmental Harm

Abstract∞ Discourse on environmental harm in conflict has largely centered on the International Criminal Court (ICC), yet the Rome Statute’s Article 8(2)(b)(iv) has yielded few prosecutions, constrained by high evidentiary thresholds and an anthropocentric focus on human victims. Proposals to recognize ‘ecocide’ as a fifth core crime seek to bridge these gaps but risk reproducing the ICC’s punitive limits. This article argues for an eco-centric model of transitional justice that complements criminal accountability by addressing environmental destruction through truth telling, reparations, institutional reform and guarantees of non-recurrence. Drawing on Colombia, Iraq and Cambodia, it shows how transitional justice mechanisms can incorporate ecological restoration through community-driven truth processes, collective reparations and governance reform to achieve outcomes beyond the reach of prosecutions. Lebanon’s post-2023 conflict devastation serves as the focal case, illustrating both the urgency and difficulty of integrating environmental recovery into a paralyzed transitional justice landscape. The article proposes an expanded mandate for Lebanon’s National Commission for the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared, a National Fund for Ecological Recovery and constitutional reforms embedding environmental rights. Ultimately, it contends that sustainable peace requires transforming transitional justice into a forward-looking framework that restores ecosystems alongside societies, redefining justice for an era of ecological collapse.