The hearing is over. On Tuesday, April 18, representatives of the Organic Consumers Association and the Regeneration International project gathered in The Hague, Netherlands, along with members of other civil society groups, scientists and journalists. After taking six months to review the testimony of 28 witnesses who testified during the two-day citizens’ tribunal held in The Hague last October, the judges were ready to report on their 53-page Advisory Opinion. The upshot of the judges’ opinion? Monsanto has engaged in practices that have violated the basic human right to a healthy environment, the right to food, the right to health, and the right of scientists to freely conduct indispensable research. The judges also called on international lawmakers to hold corporations like Monsanto accountable, to place human rights above the rights of corporations, and to “clearly assert the protection of the environment and establish the crime of ecocide.” Most opinion tribunals have had a considerable impact, and it is now accepted that they contribute to the progressive development of international law.
