From: <b class="gmail_sendername">anwar fazal</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:anwarfazal2004@yahoo.com">anwarfazal2004@yahoo.com</a>></span><br><div class="gmail_quote"><br><div><div style="color:#000;background-color:#fff;font-family:verdana,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt">
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<div><font size="3">Press Release</font></div>
<div><font size="3">7 December 2011</font></div>
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<div style="MARGIN:0in 0in 0pt"><b><span lang="EN-US"><font size="3"><font size="4">Tribunal verdict vs. 6 agrochemical TNCs hailed, urgent action on
recommendations urged</font> </font></span></b><span lang="EN-US"><br><br></span><span lang="EN-US"><font size="3">Pesticide Action Network (PAN) International hailed the
verdict of the Permanent People’s Tribunal (PPT) against the world’s six largest
agrochemical companies Monsanto, Syngenta, Bayer, Dow Chemical, DuPont and BASF
after a historic four-day session that culminated in Bangalore, India
yesterday.</font></span><span lang="EN-US"><br><br></span><span lang="EN-US"><font size="3">Victims and
survivors of the pesticide industry from all over the world, represented by PAN
International, testified before a distinguished international jury to indict the
“Big 6” for human rights violations. Based on evidence presented before it, the
Tribunal found the Defendant agrochemical TNCs “responsible for gross,
widespread and systematic violations of the right to health and life, economic,
social and cultural rights, as well as of civil and political rights, and women
and children’s rights.” <i>(see the verdict
<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.agricorporateaccountability.net/en/page/ppt/167" target="_blank"><font color="#0000ff">here</font></a>)</i></font></span><span lang="EN-US"><br><br></span><span lang="EN-US"><font size="3">The Tribunal also found agrochemical TNCs responsible
for violation of indigenous peoples’ human rights, and further found that “their
systematic acts of corporate governance have caused avoidable catastrophic
risks, increasing the prospects of extinction of biodiversity, including species
whose continued existence is necessary for reproduction of human
life.”</font></span><span lang="EN-US"><br><br></span><span lang="EN-US"><font size="3">Sarojeni
Rengam, PAN Asia Pacific Executive Director, said that the Tribunal’s verdict is
a victory for peoples who have been most affected by the Big 6’s control over
food and agriculture. “We are elated with the verdict. It affirms what people
all over the world already know and are experiencing: that the pesticide
industry is to blame and should be held accountable for the systematic poisoning
of human health and the environment, loss of food sovereignty and
self-determination, and increased world hunger and poverty,” she
said.</font></span><span lang="EN-US"><br><br></span><span lang="EN-US"><font size="3">The PPT,
founded in 1979 in Italy, is an international opinion tribunal that looks into
complaints of human rights violations. Borne out of the tribunals on the Vietnam
War and Latin American dictatorships, the PPT has held 37 sessions so far using
the rigorous conventional court format. While its verdicts are not legally
binding, these can set precedent for future legal actions against Defendants,
and can pressure governments and institutions.</font></span><span lang="EN-US"><br><br></span><span lang="EN-US"><font size="3">Jurors for the PPT Session on Agrochemical TNCs are
Indian legal scholar Upendra Baxi, British scientist Dr. Ricarda Steinbrecher,
African environmental lawyer Ibrahima Ly, German economist Elmar Altvater,
Italian professor Paolo Ramazotti, and PPT Secretary General Dr. Gianni Tognoni.
<i>(see profile of jury <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.agricorporateaccountability.net/en/page/ppt/55" target="_blank"><font color="#0000ff">here</font></a>)</i></font></span><span lang="EN-US"><br><br></span><span lang="EN-US"><font size="3">The Tribunal said that the home States of the Big 6 (US,
Switzerland, and Germany), have “failed to comply with their internationally
accepted responsibility to promote and protect human rights,” by not adequately
regulating, monitoring and disciplining these corporations. The Tribunal further
said that these States have “unjustifiably promoted a double standard approach
prohibiting the production of hazardous chemicals at home while allowing their
own TNCs unrestrained license for these enterprises in other States, especially
of the Global South.” </font></span><span lang="EN-US"><br><br></span><span lang="EN-US"><font size="3">The Tribunal
also found host States responsible for failure to protect the human rights of
its citizens by offering “magic carpet type hospitality” to agrochemical TNCs
and therefore not adequately protecting social movement activists or independent
scientists from harassment, not limiting the “global corporate ownership of
knowledge production in universities and related research sites,” “not
recognizing the value of indigenous knowledge and social relationships they
create and sustain,” and “not fully pursuing alternative and less hazardous
forms of agricultural production without having learnt the full lessons from the
First Green Revolution.”</font></span><span lang="EN-US"><br><br></span><font size="3"><span lang="EN-US">The Tribunal
also found that the policies of World Trade Organization in relation to
Intellectual Property Rights are “not balanced with any sincere regard for the
grave long-term hazards to humans and nature already posed by the activities of
agribusiness and agrochemical industries.” International financial institutions,
named in the indictment as the International Monetary Fund-World Bank, do not
follow “a strict regime of human rights conditionalities” and “have yet to
develop policies concerning their support for hazardous manufacture, application
or process,” said the Tribunal.</span><span lang="EN-US"></span></font></div>
<div style="MARGIN:0in 0in 0pt"><span lang="EN-US"><font size="3"></font></span> </div>
<div style="MARGIN:0in 0in 0pt"><span lang="EN-US"><font size="3">The Tribunal
recommended that national governments should “prosecute the Defendant
agrochemical companies in terms of criminal liability rather than civil
liability.” It also urged governments to take action to “restructure
international law” to ensure the accountability of transnational corporations,
to “accept a less heavy burden of proof on the victims and to fully commit to
and legislate for the precautionary principle,” and “to prevent TNCs from
directly or indirectly harassing and intimidating scientists, farmers and human
rights and environmental defenders.”</font></span><span lang="EN-US"><br><br></span><span lang="EN-US"><font size="3">It also urged international organizations and
intergovernmental institutions to uphold human rights and the welfare of
populations, and protect of biodiversity and ecosystems by subordinating the
interests of corporations pursuing patents. </font></span><span lang="EN-US"><br><br></span><span lang="EN-US"><font size="3">“The Tribunal’s recommendations must immediately be
acted upon, for they echo what civil society and people’s organizations have
been demanding for a very long time. The prosecution of the Big 6 must be
started to bring justice to fruition for the thousands of victims and survivors
of the pesticide industry. The precautionary principle must be put into place
and the patent regime abolished, as recommended by the Tribunal. That is the
only way to stop these human rights violations, which continue every day without
impunity,” said Rengam.</font></span><span lang="EN-US"><br><br></span><span lang="EN-US"><font size="3">Rengam
further added that the Tribunal just marks the beginning of an escalated
international people’s movement against agrochemical TNCs, which is now armed
with a powerful verdict that can be used in every part of the world. “The next
step towards justice and liberation from the Big 6’s control will be determined
by the people’s unity, strength, and determination to stand up against corporate
greed and aggression, just as was shown in this victorious PPT Session,” she
concluded.<span> </span>### </font></span><span lang="EN-US"><br><br></span></div>
<div style="MARGIN:0in 0in 0pt"><span lang="EN-US"><font size="3">The Permanent People's
Tribunal Session on Agrochemical TNCs is organised by Pesticide Action Network
International, a global network of more than 600 organisations in over 90
countries which has been working to eliminate the use of pesticides and other
hazardous technologies.</font></span></div>
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<div><font size="3">See the full coverage of the
PPT Session <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.agricorporateaccountability.net/" target="_blank">here</a>.</font></div>
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<div><font size="3">_____________________________________________</font></div>
<div><font size="3">Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific</font></div><font size="3">E-mail: </font><a rel="nofollow" href="mailto:panap@panap.net" target="_blank"><font size="3">panap@panap.net</font></a>
<div><font size="3">Website: </font><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.panap.net" target="_blank"><font size="3">www.panap.net</font></a></div>
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