Monsanto Tribunal Names Panel of International Judges

THE HAGUE, Netherlands, July 13, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The International Monsanto Tribunal, which the Organic Consumers Association is a part of, named three international judges to co-chair the citizens' tribunal, October 15-16 in The Hague, Netherlands.

The judges are: Dior Fall Sow, Senegal, consultant to the International Criminal Court, former Advocate General at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda; Francoise Tulkens, Belgium, vice chair, Scientific Committee of the European Union Fundamental Rights' Agency, and former vice-president at the European Court of Human Rights; and Upendra Baxi, India, professor of law, the University of Warwick, and former president of the Indian Society of International Law.

The Tribunal also announced two lawyers who will prepare cases for the Tribunal: Jackson Nyamuya Maogoto, UK, senior lecturer in international law. University of Manchester; and Gynn MacCarrick, former legal officer, Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

Maogoto said, "The potential for businesses to be perpetrators of international crimes was legally recognized by the Nuremberg Tribunal which held private German industrialists criminally liable for their support of the German war effort. This important Nuremberg legacy has quietly been subsumed over decades by the military-industry complex. It is time that the complicity and liability of corporations is reactivated. The International Monsanto Tribunal will serve to resurrect the Nuremberg legacy, 'remind' and re-energize the international law framework— business actors can be involved in international crimes."

MacCarrick said, "The work of the International Monsanto Tribunal will undoubtedly contribute to the progressive development of international law, by clarifying the content of the human rights responsibilities of companies, and by informing the international debate as to whether international criminal law should evolve to include the crime of ecocide."

Background on the judges and lawyers

More on the Monsanto Tribunal 

The Monsanto Tribunal is an international civil society initiative to hold Monsanto accountable for human rights violations, for crimes against humanity, and for ecocide. Eminent judges will hear testimonies from victims, and deliver an advisory opinion following procedures of the International Court of Justice. A parallel People's Assembly provides the opportunity for social movements to rally and plan for the future we want. The Tribunal and People's Assembly will take place between 14 and 16 October 2016 in The Hague, Netherlands.

SOURCE Organic Consumers Association

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