The leader of the pesticide was convicted by a citizen court of violation of human rights, negative impact on the environment and ecocide.
Monsanto: guilty. Charges: violation of human rights, negative impact on the environment, “ecocide” (ecological murder). On Wednesday, the Monsanto People’s Court rendered its decision on the liability of the American pesticide giant. The manufacturer of Round Up, the world’s number one herbicide, was to answer these charges before an informal citizen court, made up of five professional judges.
The opinion is therefore only advisory, but highly symbolic. While the American justice (real, this time) has just declassified documents indicating that Monsanto was aware since 1999 of the toxicity of glyphosate (component of the Round Up), the question of the responsibility of the industrialist can hardly be avoided more long time.
“Damage to soil, water …”
This citizen court therefore decided to seize it. In October, for three days, hearings were conducted in The Hague by hundreds of citizen groups. Responsible for answering six questions on the environment, food and health in particular, five international professional judges then heard from around thirty witnesses, including scientists, farmers and beekeepers.
They come this Tuesday to make their decision. These hearings thus led the judges to declare that “Monsanto’s activities cause damage to soil, water and the environment in general”, before calling on international law to “affirm precisely and clearly , environmental protection and the crime of ecocide ”, namely serious damage to the environment or its destruction.
Agent Orange
“The Tribunal notes that if the crime of ecocide were to be elevated, in the future, to the rank of international law, the reported facts could fall within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court”, he said. questioning about Monsanto’s complicity in war crimes, which had produced the defoliant Agent Orange used by the American armed forces (1962-1973) during the Vietnam War.
The advisory opinion is intended to feed into existing laws, in particular through the creation of case law within international law. The group, whose $ 66 billion merger with Germany’s Bayer is currently under scrutiny by the US Department of Justice, produces genetically modified seeds as well as controversial pesticides. In a statement, Monsanto denounced a court “staged”
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