In 1969 waren
verschillende landen in de United Nations (UN) bereid een vijfde wet aan te
nemen als misdaad tegen de mensheid naast volkerenmoord, misdrijven tegen de
menselijkheid, oorlogsmisdrijven en het misdrijf tegen agressie. De vijfde zou
dan worden ‘Ecoside: crime against environment.’
Uit rapporten is inmiddels gebleken dat een interne
taskgroep binnen de UN besloot deze vijfde wet niet in te dienen. Lobbyisten
uit vier of vijf landen zagen hun gevestigde belangen in gevaar komen. Raad
eens welke landen tegen lobbyden: V.S., UK, Frankrijk en…..Nederland!!!!
Gelukkig komt er nu meer tegenkracht tegen de multinationals
die hele gebieden, landen ecologisch voor de toekomst verpesten, door bosbouw,
mijnbouw, vervuiling van de atmosfeer. e.d.
En de jeugd wordt
actief met ‘claimate change’ acties. Steun deze vrouw Polly Higgíns, ECOCIDE LAW EXPERT,
die het wilde opnemen.
Waarom is moord op de
aarde geen misdaad?', dacht de Schotse advocaat Polly Higgins. 'Waarom is het
niet strafbaar om de aarde uit te putten en te verwoesten?' Ze sloot haar
kantoor en werd advocaat van de Aarde. En een inspiratie voor velen.
Met verdriet en verbijstering vernamen we deze
week dat Higgins getroffen is door een agressieve vorm van kanker. We denken
aan haar. Ze heeft diepe indruk op ons gemaakt en we zijn vastbesloten om haar
werk voort te zetten en haar visie verder te verspreiden.
PRESS RELEASE
Top Shell bosses and Dutch Minister
to be investigated for Climate Ecocide ‘the missing International Crime of our
Time’
British Barrister calls for criminal
law of ecocide to impose a legal duty on governments to protect the public from
dangerous industrial practices.
Polly Justice Sword.jpg
The Dutch Minister of Economic
Affairs and Climate Policy Eric Wiebes,
the CEO of Royal Dutch Shell Ben van
Beurden and the CEO of Shell Netherlands Marjan van Loon and have been identified as principal suspects in
an Independent Preliminary Examination into the potential crime of Climate
Ecocide
At a special event in the Hague
accompanying the annual Assembly of States Parties to the International
Criminal Court, UK barrister and internationally renowned Ecocide Law Expert,
Polly Higgins, announced that independent investigative work has already
commenced.
“Findings will be subject to the
same stringent conditions and rigorous scrutiny as required by official ICC
procedures and will scrutinise evidence suggesting that Shell, the one of the
largest oil companies in the world, knew that significant adverse impacts arise
from their activities”, said Ms Higgins of Ecological Defence Integrity.
“Crucially, evidence has come to light to suggest that the public has been misled
for more than 30 years and such evidence could amount to a crime, if ecocide
crime were to exist.
“The purpose of our independent
climate ecocide examination is to determine whether there is sufficient
evidence both to establish a crime of ecocide and to justify its adoption as an
atrocity crime alongside Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity, War Crimes and
Crimes of Aggression. Ultimately it’s up to any one of the 123 Signatory Heads
of States to advance ecocide crime as an urgent amendment the Rome Statute.
Ms Higgins said: "The fact that
ecocide occurs during peacetime does not make it any less of an atrocity, or
any less of a crime. We live in an age where the consequences of dangerous
industrial activity are long-term, transboundary and can be felt on the other
side of the world.”
“The problem is that climate
negotiations have never taken criminal law into consideration despite the fact
that the most recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC) calls for rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes to prevent
climate catastrophe. A criminal law of ecocide would impose a legal duty on
governments to protect the public from dangerous industrial practices.
Hurricanes will not wait whilst we endlessly vacillate over agreements which
cannot be enforced.”
“Ecocide crime is an idea whose time
has come. It is the missing international crime of our time. For frontline
states suffering the devastating effects of severe weather and rising sea
levels, COP24 is the wrong forum.
“I look forward to publicly
reporting our findings,” said Ms Higgins. “If the evidence shows that
continuous industrial activity known to adversely affect climate breakdown has
been permitted, then both the Dutch government Minister and Shell’s senior
officers could be held responsible for pervasive impacts on the world’s
population at large, including the systemic and wide-spread collapse of
ecosystems.”
Shell has repeatedly been put on
notice. A high-profile shareholder challenge was raised in May 2018. A legal notice
of intent to sue, for failing to act on climate change, has been served by
Friends of the Earth Netherlands. The Philippine Commission on Human Rights are
currently holding an international climate enquiry into the responsibility of
Carbon Majors, including Shell. The Dutch Urgenda Foundation filed a successful
climate suit against the Dutch Government, who now seek to challenge the
legality of the ruling.
