The formal start of the Monsanto Tribunal is on Friday the 14th of
October 2016 in The Hague, Netherlands. The hearings of the Tribunal
will take place on the 15th and 16th in the Institute of Social Studies
(ISS). Five internationally renowned judges will hear 30 witnesses and experts from 5 continents.
The aim of the Tribunal is to give a legal opinion on the
environmental and health damage caused by the multinational Monsanto.
This will add to the international debate to include the crime of
Ecocide into international criminal law. It will also give people all
over the world a well documented legal file to be used in lawsuits
against Monsanto and similar chemical companies.
Program
Registration
Background:
Critics of Monsanto claim
that the company has been able to ignore the human and environmental
damage caused by its products and pursue it devastating activities
through a systematic concealment strategy through lobbying regulators
and government authorities, lying, corruption, commissioning bogus
scientific studies, putting pressure on independent scientists, and
manipulating the press.
Our endeavor is based on the observation
that only through civic action will we be able to achieve compensation
for victims of the American multinational. The procedures are a
veritable obstacle course for the victims. They are reluctant to invest
time and money in litigation, especially since there is no reason to
believe in a positive outcome. Frequently, when a company like Monsanto
is the defendant, the company settles out of court, whereby
circumventing the establishment of a negative legal precedent.
Currently,
it is impossible under law to bring criminal charges against a company
like Monsanto or its management, for their crimes against human health
and the integrity of the environment.
Each year, Monsanto spends
enormous amounts on legal defense to fend off the cases brought by the
victims of its activities. This does not encourage the company to change
its practices. So long as it remains more profitable for shareholders
to take risks in the community – even if that means compensating the
victims occasionally - these practices will persist.
Monsanto's
history is a paradigm for the impunity of transnational corporations and
their management, who contribute to climate change and the depletion of
the biosphere and threaten the security of the planet.
Monsanto
is not the only focus of our efforts. Monsanto will serve as an example
for the entire agro-industrial system whereby putting on trial all
multinationals and companies that employ entrepreneurial behavior that
ignore the damage wrought on health and the environment by their
actions.
General purpose of the Tribunal:
To get a ruling – even symbolic - against Monsanto by a bench of real judges, after
veritable
proceedings in an international court, and contribute to the
establishment of international mechanisms to bring justice to victims of
multinationals.
Specific objectives:
- Assess the case against Monsanto and the damages caused pursuant to international law;
- Assess Monsanto's actions in relation to the crime of ecocide.
Citizens’ movements have made an appeal for international criminal law
to recognize this as a crime;
- Consider a possible amendment of the Rome Statute establishing the International
- Criminal Court to include the crime of ecocide, making it possible to try natural and legal persons for this crime.
Expected Results/Impact of the Tribunal:
Public opinion and policy makers will gain heightened understanding of Monsanto’s
practices
and their impact on the environment and human rights. The Tribunal will
raise awareness of the dangers of industrial and chemical agriculture
and the need a shift in agricultural paradigm.
The Tribunal will
contribute to the ongoing debate on what it means to hold a company
responsible for violating fundamental rights including but not limited
to the right to food, health, information etc.
The Tribunal's
work will give victims and their legal counsel the arguments and legal
grounds for further lawsuits against Monsanto within their national
jurisdictions.
The Tribunal will highlight the need to change international law so that victims of
transnational companies have a means to legal redress.
The Tribunal will show, through the example of Monsanto, why the crime of ecocide must be recognized under international law.
How the Tribunal will Function:
*
The Tribunal will employ as its legal guidelines: the UN Guiding
Principles on Business and Human Rights, adopted by the Council of the
UN Human Rights June 2011; the Rome Statute establishing the
International Criminal Court (ICC) giving it jurisdiction to try alleged
perpetrators of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and
crimes of aggression.
The UN Guiding Principles on Business and
Human Rights is the international authority on the responsibilities of
business with regard to human rights. The guidelines state that
companies must respect all human rights, including the right to life,
the right to health and the right to a healthy environment. They define
society’s expectations vis-à-vis businesses. They will serve as the
basis on which plaintiffs will build their case for demanding
compensation from Monsanto for damage caused by the company’s
activities. The Court will consider whether Monsanto's conduct could be
considered criminal pursuant to existing international criminal law, or
under the law of ecocide, which is gaining support for consideration as
an offence.
* Prior to the event, working groups will study the impact of Monsanto's activities in the following 6 areas:
- Right to a healthy environment
- Right to health
- Right to Food
- Freedom of expression and academic research
- Complicity in warcrimes
- Crime of ecocide
The Terms of Reference are as follows:
Question 1:
Did the firm Monsanto violate, by its activities, the right to a a
safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, as recognized in
international human rights law (Res. 25/21 of the Human Rights Council,
of 15 April 2014), taking into account the responsibilities imposed on
corporations by the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, as
endorsed by the Human Rights Council in Resolution 17/4 of 16 June 2011?
Question 2: Did the firm Monsanto violate, by
its activities, the right to food, as recognized in Article 11 of the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, in
Articles 24.2(c) and (e) and 27.3 of the Convention on the Rights of the
Child, and in Articles 25(f) and 28.1 of the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, taking into
account the responsibilities imposed on corporations by the Guiding
Principles on Business and Human Rights, as endorsed by the Human Rights
Council in Resolution 17/4 of 16 June 2011?
Question 3:
Did the firm Monsanto violate, by its activities, the right to the
highest attainable standard of health, as recognized in Article 12 of
the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, or
the right of child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard
of health, as recognized by Article 24 of the Convention on the Rights
of the Child, taking into account the responsibilities imposed on
corporations by the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, as
endorsed by the Human Rights Council in Resolution 17/4 of 16 June 2011?
Question 4:
Did the firm Monsanto violate the freedom indispensable for scientific
research, as guaranteed by Article 15(3) of the International Covenant
on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, as well as the freedoms of
thought and expression guaranteed in Article 19 of the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, taking into account the
responsibilities imposed on corporations by the Guiding Principles on
Business and Human Rights, as endorsed by the Human Rights Council in
Resolution 17/4 of 16 June 2011?
Question 5: Is
the firm Monsanto complicit in the commission of a war crime, as defined
in Article 8(2) of the Statute of the International Criminal Court, by
providing materials to the United States Army in the context of
operation "Ranch Hand" launched in Viet Nam in 1962?
Question 6:
Could the past and present activities of Monsanto constitute a crime of
ecocide, understood as causing serious damage or destroying the
environment, so as to significantly and durably alter the global commons
or ecosystem services upon which certain human groups rely?
* The Monsanto Tribunal will collect testimonies and an important information
gathering
effort will be made. Olivier De Schutter, law professor at the
University of Louvain, will, with the assistance of forty law students,
review the records of all the victims and identify the charges. They
will prepare legal briefs that the plaintiffs and their legal
representation can use in their arguments.
* Illustrious lawyers
and judges from five continents will be involved in the Tribunal’s work.
The court will have two co-presidents.
* The Monsanto Tribunal
will hear the cases of 20 plaintiffs from the South and North Americas,
Europe, Asia and Africa. The plaintiffs will have experienced counsel to
represent them.
* The Tribunal will comply with the general principles of law of civil procedure.
Monsanto
will be invited to make submissions. Monsanto - as a defendant - will
be heard in response to allegations, to defend the legality of its acts,
and to challenge the claims of alleged victims.
* As with the
International Court of Justice, the President will receive all
documents. Lawyers will prepare and submit their findings to the judges.
They will also appear before the judges to plead their case. Victims
(or anyone in the audience) may submit documents to the judges and
plaintiffs will speak at the hearing. The judges will deliberate and
will hand down a decision – based on the evidence - on the 6 questions.
* The court hands down its decision in December 2016.
Expertise Opinions to the service of the Tribunal:
Members
of civil society from different professional backgrounds who all have
expertise in relation to the subjects and issues to be addressed by the
Tribunal Monsanto took the initiative to organize the Tribunal. This
group has rallied representatives of civil society with relevant
expertise to the effort. They form the Monsanto Tribunal organizing
committee, essentially all volunteers who are willing to provide their
expertise for this project. (A list of the members of the organizing
committee can be found in the appendix).
Students from the
following universities will also bring their expertise to the endeavor
by taking part in the research and case review phase:
- University of Louvain (Belgium)
- Yale University (United States)
- University of Bordeaux (France)
Civil society: see the list of supporting organisations here
Civil Society Organisations from five continents will contribute to vetting judges, lawyers, plaintiffs and witnesses.
They
will be invited to participate in outreach and awareness raising
activities in their respective countries and citizen mobilization.
They will be active in organizing the People’s Assembly, which will be organized as a parallel event to the Monsanto Tribunal.
Testimonies
To
assist citizens and movements from around the world in making their
voice heard during the upcoming trial, the International Monsanto
Tribunal asks you to send in any information or your testimony using
this form. The Organising Committee of the Monsanto Tribunal will
examine all submissions.
We will contact you if your submission
has been selected for testimony during the People’s Assembly (14-16
October 2016) or during the hearings at the Tribunal (15-16 October
2016).
Thank You.
Source: International Monsanto Tribunal
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