Ecoviolence And The Law Supranational Normative Foundation Of Ecocrime

Exploring such acts of environmental violence as "ecocrimes," the author builds the case that the international law principles of jus cogens and erga omnes justify characterizing ecocrime as a "just crime" requiring action to curb their occurrence and punishment to deter them. The book discusses the obstacles that defining environmental assaults as "ecocrimes" will face both in national and international circumstances. The author concludes by proposing the creation of an International Environmental Court that would adjudicate "ecocrime" issues. This forward thinking work will be of great interest to all involved in the human rights issues of environmental threats. Published under the Transnational Publishers imprint.

Dr. Westra proposes a different way of looking at the multiple environmental crises threatening the global community, contending that the current movement, in both ethics and the law, towards a separation of human rights and environmental rights is profoundly misguided. She argues that these are not separate fields of study or endeavour but are closely interrelated, and access to clean air and water, land capable of growing uncontaminated food, and a climate that fosters growth are inherent human rights. After providing an examination of cases where the depravation of environmental rights can be construed as an assault on the current and future wellbeing of a community, Dr. Westra conceives the creation of an International Environmental Court that would adjudicate ecocrime issues, combining careful analysis with imaginative solutions.

The GM debate has been ongoing for over a decade, yet it has been contained in the scientific world and presented in technical terms. Eco Crime and Genetically Modified Food brings the debates about GM food into the social and criminological arena. This book highlights the criminal and harmful actions of state and corporate officials. It concludes that corporate and political corruption, uncertain science, bitter public opposition, growing farmer concern and bankruptcy, irreversible damage to biodervisty, corporate monopolies and exploitation, disregard for social and cultural practices, devastation of small scale and local agricultural economies, imminent threats to organics, weak regulation, and widespread political and biotech mistrust – do not provide the bases for advancing and progressing GM foods into the next decade. Yet, with the backing of the WTO, the US and UK Governments march on – but at what cost to future generations?

Environmental harms exert a significant toll and pose substantial economic costs on societies around the world. Although such harms have been studied from both legal and social science perspectives, these disciplinary-specific approaches are not, on their own, fully able to address the complexity of these environmental challenges. Many legal approaches, for example, are limited by their inattention to the motivations behind environmental offences, whereas many social science approaches are hindered by an insufficient grounding in current legislative frameworks. This edited collection constitutes a pioneering attempt to overcome these limitations by uniting legal and social science perspectives. Together, the book’s contributors forge an innovative socio-legal approach to more effectively respond to, and to prevent, environmental harms around the world. Integrating theoretical and empirical work, the book presents carefully selected illustrations of how legal and social science scholarship can be brought together to improve policies. The various chapters examine how a socio-legal approach can ultimately lead to a more comprehensive understanding of environmental harms, as well as to innovative and effective responses to such environmental offences.

Child Law starts with the question “Who is the Child?” In direct contrast to the CRC, which calls for putting the interests of the child first in all policies dealing with children, it appears that the interests of others are the major consideration de facto. In law, children’s right to protection is severely limited by the presence of a maximum age limit, with no consideration of the starting point: current and ongoing scientific research has demonstrated the effects of this non-consideration in a number of abnormalities and diseases, not only in children, but in adults and the elderly. The WHO has published a number of studies to that effect and the 2012 Report on Endocrine Disruptors more than confirms this claim. This and other scientific insights that have largely been ignored show the flaws and inadequacies of the legal regimes intended to protect children, in a number of areas, from the basic public health to the right to normal development; child labor law conventions; in conflict situations; as a result of climate and other events; children as illegal migrants and as inmates in prison camps.

Just Security in an Undergoverned World examines how humankind can manage global problems to achieve both security and justice in an age of antithesis. Global connectivity is increasing, visibly and invisiblyin trade, finance, culture, and informationhelping to spur economic growth, technological advance, and greater understanding and freedom, but global disconnects are growing as well. Ubiquitous electronics rely on high-value minerals scraped from the earth by miners kept poor by corruption and war. People abandon burning states for the often indifferent welcome of wealthier lands whose people, in turn, draw into themselves. Humanity's very success, underwritten in large part by lighting up gigatons of long-buried carbon for 200 years, now threatens humanity's future. The global governance institutions established after World War II to manage global threats, especially the twin scourges of war and poverty, have expanded in reach and impact, while paradoxically losing the political support of some of their wealthiest and most powerful members. Their problems mimic those of their members in struggling to adapt to new problems and maintain trust in norms and public bodies. This volume argues, however, that a properly mandated, managed, and modernized global architecture offers unparalleled potential to midwife solutions to intractable issuesfrom violent conflict and climate change to poverty and pandemic diseasethat transcend borders and the capacities of individual actors. It offers just security as a new framework for charing innovating solutions and strategies for effective and essential global governance.

International law has evolved to protect human rights. But what are human rights? Does the term have the same meaning in a world being transformed by climate change and globalized trade? Are existing laws sufficient to ensure humanity’s survival? Drawing on case law and practice and examples from philosophy, law, and ecology, Laura Westra argues that the current system is not adequate: international law privileges individual over collective rights, permitting multinational corporations to overlook the collectivity and the environment in their quest for wealth and power. Unless policy makers redefine human rights and reformulate environmental law and policies to protect the preconditions for life itself -- water, food, clean air, and biodiversity -- humankind faces the complete loss of the ecological commons, the preservation of which is one of our most basic human rights. A new kind of cosmopolitanism, one centred on the United Nations, offers the best hope for preserving our common heritage and the survival of future generations.

The essays selected for this volume illustrate the growing interest in and importance of crime that is both environmental and transnational in nature. The topics covered range from pollution and waste to biodiversity and wildlife crimes, and from the violation of human rights associated with the exploitation of natural resources through to the criminogenic implications of climate change. The collection provides insight into the nature and dynamics of this type of crime and examines in detail who is harmed and what can be done about it. Differential victimisation and contemporary developments in environmental law enforcement are also considered. Collectively, these essays lay the foundations for a criminology that is forward looking, global in its purview, and that deals with the key environmental issues of the present age.