Credit: ModernFarmer
Monsanto To Face International Tribunal
One of the world’s most criminally corrupt corporations will finally get its day in court. And it won’t be pretty.
OCA, along with IFOAM International Organics (run by our personal friend Ronnie Cummins) Navdanya, Regeneration International (RI), Millions Against Monsanto and dozens of global food, farming, environmental justice groups announced today that they will put Monsanto MON (NYSE) on trial for crimes against nature and humanity, and ecocide.
The announcement was made at a press conference held in conjunction with the COP21 United Nations Conference on Climate Change, November 30 – December 11, in Paris.
Apparently just banning Monsanto’s GMO products isn’t enough for some civil society groups, as Monsanto was accused of ‘crimes against humanity and the environment’ at COP21 in Paris last week.
From the article:
“Monsanto promotes an agroindustrial model that contributes at least one third of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions”, stated the coalition of Organic Consumers Association (OCA), IFOAM International Organics, Navdanya, Regeneration International (RI), and Millions Against Monsanto, and others.
“It is also largely responsible for the depletion of soil and water resources, species extinction and declining biodiversity, and the displacement of millions of small farmers worldwide. This is a model that threatens peoples’ food sovereignty by patenting seeds and privatizing life …
“The Tribunal will rely on the ‘Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights’ adopted at the UN in 2011. It will also assess potential criminal liability on the basis of the Rome Statue that created the International Criminal Court in The Hague in 2002, and it will consider whether a reform of international criminal law is warranted to include crimes against the environment, or ecocide, as a prosecutable criminal offense, so that natural persons could incur criminal liability.”
Vandana Shiva, Corinne Lepage, Marie-Monique Robin, Olivier de Schutter, Gilles-Eric Séralini and Hans Herren, the Monsanto Tribunal standing committee, will ask people to testify about how Monsanto has allegedly used unethical and criminal actions to become the leaders of the GMO revolution, as well as address how they have contributed to corrupting the political system and the mass media. Their hope is that once Monsanto has been put on trial that other corporations will think twice before they put profits ahead of people and the environment.
Monsanto is, according to many, the most hated corporation on the planet and was chosen for trial for this reason. The choice to announce the tribunal during COP21 was also purposeful.
“By launching the Monsanto Tribunal campaign during COP21, civil society groups and grassroots movements aim to expose the corporate control of the agrifood system and its ways of compromising real action for climate change adaptation and mitigation.”
André Leu, the current President of IFOAM (International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements) and an Australian organic farmer, rightly remarked, “For years, RoundUp was regarded so safe, you could drink it. Regulatory authorities said we do not need to worry about. They did not even test for it in our food. It has been sprayed on the roadsides, in children’s playgrounds, and all over the environment, in our waters and our air. And yet we now have hundreds of published peer-reviewed studies showing that this is probably the most dangerous agrochemical ever.”
Ronnie Cummins, Director of the Organic Consumers Association said, “The time is long overdue for a global citizens’ tribunal to put Monsanto on trial for crimes against humanity and the environment”, adding, “They are nothing more than literal poison for the public,”.
It is because of this fact, he explained, that people need to understand that these corporations have no problems with poisoning their children, their grandchildren, themselves and the environment- all to increase their profits.
Given this truth the group and its supports feel that people need to fully understand what this means; Monsanto and groups like it have “no problems to poison their children, their grandchildren, themselves and the environment just to increase their profits.” That, they say, needs to end.
I won’t lie, I’m thrilled for every leader who has decided not to allow GMO’s to be grown or sold in their counties, but doubtful the decision at The Hague will help us here in the US, sadly.
When will we wake up?
Source: The Ecologist
