Statement by Rafael Benitez, Director of Social Rights, Health and Environment

Excellencies, distinguished colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,

Let me begin by thanking France and the co-organisers for the invitation to participate in this important discussion.

It is a pleasure to join you at the 15th United Nations Crime Congress. The title of this meeting captures well where we stand today. We have made significant progress in recognising the threat posed by environmental crime and developing stronger legal responses.

I would like to highlight three messages.

My first is that we have fundamentally changed the way we understand environmental crime.

Environmental crime has become one of the most profitable forms of criminal activity in the world and, in just a few decades, one of the world’s largest criminal economies. But its significance goes far beyond this. It fuels organised criminal networks and corruption, accelerates biodiversity loss, damages ecosystems and undermines sustainable development.

We also increasingly recognise its profound human dimension. By degrading the environment on which societies depend, environmental crimes undermine the enjoyment of human rights, including the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. They affect public health and food and water security, often impacting the most vulnerable first and most severely.

Environmental crime is therefore no longer viewed simply as an environmental issue. It is increasingly recognised as a form of transnational organised crime, a human rights concern and a rule of law challenge requiring effective public policies, criminal justice responses and international cooperation.

At the Council of Europe, the environment has been part of our work for decades. Through the Bern Convention, the Landscape Convention and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights, among other instruments, our Organisation has long recognised the close connection between environmental protection and human rights.

The link with criminal law is not new either. In 1998, the Council of Europe adopted its first Convention on the Protection of the Environment through Criminal Law, although that Convention never entered into force.

At the Fourth Summit of Heads of State and Government in Reykjavík in 2023, European leaders renewed this commitment, calling for stronger action on the human rights dimensions of environmental protection and an urgent response to the triple planetary crisis.

This was followed by the Council of Europe Strategy on the Environment 2025–2030, “United around our values, for people and for the planet”, which identifies preventing and prosecuting environmental crime as one of its five strategic objectives. The Strategy also advances a One Health approach, recognising the close interdependence between human, animal and ecosystem health.

My second message concerns a major milestone in this work: the new Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of the Environment through Criminal Law.

Adopted by the Committee of Ministers in May 2025, under the Luxembourg Presidency, and opened for signature on 3 December 2025, it is the only international legally binding instrument specifically dedicated to environmental crime and aimed at strengthening the protection of the environment through criminal law.

The Convention establishes common minimum standards for the criminalisation of serious environmental offences, helping to reduce legal fragmentation between States. It strengthens cooperation through provisions on mutual legal assistance, extradition and information exchange, while its jurisdictional provisions enable States, in certain circumstances, to prosecute offences committed beyond their territory.

Importantly, the Convention places people at the centre of the criminal justice response.

It provides for the protection of victims, witnesses and persons who report environmental offences or otherwise cooperate with justice. Victims should receive information about their rights and relevant proceedings, have appropriate opportunities to participate and be heard, and have access to support. Those who report environmental offences or assist investigating and prosecuting authorities must be protected against intimidation and retaliation.

This is essential because environmental crimes are often uncovered precisely because someone is willing to speak up, provide information or come forward as a victim or witness. Protecting those people, including when cases cross borders, is fundamental to effective enforcement.

The Convention also recognises that criminal law alone is not enough. It requires Parties to develop coordinated national policies, strengthen the capacity of investigators, prosecutors and judges, promote specialised training, raise public awareness, involve civil society and improve data and knowledge on environmental crime.

It is therefore more than an instrument defining offences and sanctions. It provides a framework for prevention, stronger national institutions and more effective cooperation.

My third and final message is that we must now turn this framework into action.

The Convention’s impact will depend on States joining it, incorporating its standards into national law and giving practitioners the capacity and resources to apply them effectively.

Its Committee of the Parties will support this process by facilitating implementation, exchanging experience and good practices, and helping ensure that the Convention continues to respond to evolving challenges.

The Convention also complements the wider international legal framework, including the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, relevant European Union legislation and international environmental agreements. It fills an important gap by providing a dedicated international framework for criminal-law responses to environmental crime.

We are already seeing encouraging momentum.

Several Council of Europe member States, as well as the European Union, have signed the Convention. I am particularly pleased that France, our host for this meeting, joined them earlier this month. And on 17 September, Latvia became the first country to deposit its instrument of ratification.

But this is only the beginning. The Convention will fulfil its purpose only if States make it a living instrument. That means signatures must be followed by ratifications, and ratifications by effective implementation.

So let me make a clear appeal: to States that have not yet signed the Convention, I encourage you to do so; and to those that have signed, I encourage you to move towards ratification as swiftly as possible.

This appeal extends beyond Europe. The Convention provides for the participation of States that are not members of the Council of Europe. That global reach matters: environmental crime is transnational, and broader participation will strengthen our common legal framework and our ability to cooperate across borders.

We therefore invite States from all regions to engage with the Convention, to consider joining it and to help build a truly international response to environmental crime.

The Council of Europe stands ready to work with its member States, the United Nations and our international partners in this effort.

Ultimately, the true measure of our success will not be the instruments we adopt, but the difference they make: a safer and healthier environment, stronger protection for people and communities, and a better future for all – including the generations to come.

Thank you.