The International Monsanto Tribunal listened to testimonies related to 6 crucial questions and disseminated its opinion on Monsanto's behavior and its alleged crimes against the environment and humanity.
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves himTHEInternational Monsanto Tribunal he listened to the testimonies related to 6 crucial questions and spread his opinion on the behavior of the Monsanto and its alleged crimes against the environment and humanity and violations of fundamental rights.
It is a informal court, which meets periodically, formed by representatives of organizations that deal with international law and that in fact disseminate legal analyzes to clarify the obligations and consequences of some activities of the Monsanto Company. Here are some of the answers to the questions posed to this court of opinion.
Index
The right to a healthy environment
Monsanto has taken action to secure the protection of a healthy, clean and sustainable environment, as recognized by international law (Resolution 25/21 of the Human Rights Council, 15 April 2014), also considering the responsibilities imposed on companies by the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights? The right to a "healthy environment" is traced by the court already in the results of the UN conference in Stockholm in 1972. The assumption is that the healthy environment is the basis for human rights to be developed. At least 140 states have already incorporated this right into their legislation. According to the court, Monsanto has undertaken activities that have had a negative impact on the protection of a healthy environment, related to the use of herbicides and pesticides and considering the effects also on communities that have not received adequate information on the problem.
The right of access to food
Has Monsanto infringed the right of access to food recognized by the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women? It is a right understood as possibility of having food or means of obtaining it available, a right that must also be respected by large companies. According to the court, Monsanto has infringed this right, by interfering with the availability of food and the ability of individuals to access it, or by limiting the possibility to choose non-GMO food. Furthermore, genetically modified seeds represent one threat to biodiversity. Monsanto's activities then damaged land and water, and the contamination led to many farmers abandoning their land.
The right to the highest standard of health
It is a right that goes hand in hand with others: access to food, water, health services, a healthy environment. It concerns the physical, mental and social sphere of individuals. According to the court, which has heard testimony on the development of various diseases and deaths, Monsanto is guilty of selling dangerous, poisonous substances, despite knowing their possible effects. There is also a mention of glyphosate and Roundup, the Monsanto product that has long been targeted by those who claim it causes damage to human health and the environment.
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The essential freedom for scientific research
It is another essential step for other rights to be respected and, substantially, it coincides with the freedom of expression and information. Monsanto has violated these rights disseminating misleading information, minimizing the consequences of using its products and discrediting independent scientific studies. In other words, Monsanto has taken steps to silence some scientists or in an attempt to put their studies in a bad light by trampling the right to information.
Complicity in war crimes
In this case, the court does not mention hard evidence that prove Monsanto's responsibility, among others, for the 70 million liters of Agent Orange (containing dioxin) sprayed on approximately 2,6 million hectares of land which has caused serious damage to the health of many people in Vietnam and which also took many veterans from the USA, New Zealand, Australia and Korea to court.
Crimes against the environment
Awareness of the consequences of some practices on the environment andimportance of protecting ecosystems to also protect the health of future generations and the planet. Some of Monsanto's actions may have been a "ecocide”, Just think of the introduction of GM seeds, the large-scale use of dangerous pesticides and so on, all actions that have jeopardized biodiversity and the conditions of water and land.
Anna Tita Gallo
