DIFFERENTIATED CRIMINALIZATION AND PENALIZATION OF HOMICIDE AND ECOCIDE: A MOCKERY OF THE ATTAINMENT OF THE SDGs IN THE GLOBAL SOUTH

Abstract

It is five years to the end of the Sustainable Development Goals. Many efforts have been made by different countries to ensure that the goals are achieved and that the impact of these achievements is felt in their respective domains. Unfortunately, many countries, especially those in the Global South, have not made measurable progress in achieving their goals, nor has the impact been felt, especially with respect to the environment. Although most goals are targeted at making the Earth sustainably safe, unfortunately, due to a lack of intentionality on the part of policymakers in most developing nations, the requisite political will has not been deployed towards the protection of the environment as has been deployed in other sectors, especially the protection of human lives. Most nations are intentional about protecting human lives but apathetic about protecting the human environment. Using the doctrinal research design, this paper seeks to compare efforts made by developing nations towards the preservation of human life and the preservation of the environment. This study finds that the selective punitive sanctions channelled towards the protection of human lives on one hand and the environment on the other hand will result in retrogressive progress towards the attainment of the goals. It thus recommended that countries should treat ecocide and homicide as the same, both in efforts and in sanctions, since ecocide, which is the destruction of the environment, would eventually lead to homicide, which is the destruction of human lives.