MONSANTO ON TRIAL FOR CRIMES IN THE HAGUE

The Monsanto Company enjoys what can only be described as a cozy relationship with the American mainstream press, in large part because it's an America-based company that is heavily involved in lobbying efforts on Capitol Hill.

But overseas, the company and its contemporaries in the agrochemical business world are largely shunned and/or banned due to transgressions against both health and the environment.

Monsanto also has a penchant for suing farmers, another item that often goes unreported. But now the multinational company many describe as a legal bully will be placed on trial – this time in international court for Crimes Against Humanity, according to a new report from the website Sustainable Pulse:

"The Organic Consumers Association (OCA), IFOAM International Organics, Navdanya, Regeneration International (RI), and Millions Against Monsanto, joined by dozens of global food, farming and environmental justice groups announced today that they will put Monsanto MON (NYSE), a U.S.-based transnational corporation, on trial for crimes against nature and humanity, and ecocide, in The Hague, Netherlands, next year on World Food Day, October 16, 2016."

The Sustainable Pulse report came on the heels of an announcement by the Monsanto Tribunal, a group of organizations including those mentioned above which announced its intentions in this PDF report as part of theCOP21 United Nations Conference on Climate Change, which runs through December 11 in Paris.

"The time is long overdue for a global citizens' tribunal to put Monsanto on trial for crimes against humanity and the environment. We are in Paris this month to address the most serious threat that humans have ever faced in our 100-200,000 year evolution—global warming and climate disruption," said Ronnie Cummins, president of the Organic Consumers Association. "Why is there so much carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide in the atmosphere and not enough carbon organic matter in the soil? Corporate agribusiness, industrial forestry, the garbage and sewage industry and agricultural biotechnology have literally killed the climate-stabilizing, carbon-sink capacity of the Earth's living soil."

According to the announcement, Monsanto's crimes against the environment will be assessed at the esteemed international court in the Netherlands:

The Monsanto Tribunal, which will be held in The Hague from October 12 to 16, 2016, aims to assess these allegations made against Monsanto, and to evaluate the damages caused by this transnational company. 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.

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