La Política Criminal Ambiental con carácter preventivo en Colombia según los postulados de la Criminología verde

Abstract

Faced with the current difficult conditions that require stopping the accelerated damage to the environment, especially with regard to the reduction of CO2 emissions, the international community has applied pressure. This effort comes from various supranational environmental protection organizations and social organizations such as: the Inter-American Environmental Defense Association (AIDA), CEDHA, the UN and the group of international jurists who proposed the inclusion of the fifth international crime before the Rome Statute. Other actors, such as the Center for Human Rights and Environment, Ecojustice and the International Environmental Prosecutor's Office, have also joined this cause. The goal is to ensure that the international law norms that regulate environmental damage have a criminal nature, within national and international legal systems. Additionally, there is a tendency towards the conceptualization of damage to the environment as a crime against humanity, which leads to the consequent responsibility of States before the International Criminal Court. Evidence of this approach is found in the publication of the document to select and prioritize cases of environmental crimes, presented by the ICC Prosecutor's Office on September 15, 2016. According to paragraph 41 of said document, the evaluation of the impact derived from these crimes, considering the degree of environmental damage generated. This approach generates a special evaluation to apply judicialization to crimes contemplated in the Rome Statute that are linked to the destruction of the environment. (Campusano D.R; Acevedo E.H, 2018) In the current context, the ambiguities or doubts to recognize the crime of environmental crime focused on International Criminal Law (ICC), have made progress, especially in the definition of terminologies on environmental crimes. This progress is based on various documented academic research, according to Mistura (2018, p.196). Currently, green criminology exceeds national criminal regulation and tends to be defined as a crime against humanity, specifically the crime of ecocide, along with war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. For its part, Colombian legislation is aligning with international trends, as seen in the promulgation of Law 2111 of 2021, titled: “by which Title XI 'Of crimes against natural resources and the environment' of Law 599 of 2000, Law 906 of 2004 is modified and other provisions are issued.” This law gives special importance to the inclusion of ecocide as an environmental crime, stating in its article 1 that it replaces, among others, article 333 of the Colombian Penal Code. The criminal implications that derive from this norm, such as the adjustment in the criminal code and its impact on public policies and Colombian criminal policy (Consejo Superior Criminal Policy, 2016) This requires a shift in sanctioning procedures through the institutions responsible. The main objective of this action lies in the evaluation of environmental policies, observing the environmental criminal policy in Colombia, with the purpose of verifying whether they are adjusted to the criteria of green criminology. The methodology adopted for this research is dogmatic in nature. A systematic review was carried out in bibliographic databases that included specialized scientific articles, books, scientific journals, among others. In addition, national rulings of the Constitutional Court related to the conflicts that arose around the application of Law 2111 of 2021 were examined. In conclusion, a deficiency is identified between Law 2111 and the implementation of organizations for judicialization, based on the respective inspections, where the flow charts of the procedures effectively coordinated between the institutions involved are not appreciated. This affects the effectiveness of the application of the Law.