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Montour Falls, NY - Just weeks after the wrap of the May 14-18 proceedings of the international Permanent Peoples' Tribunal Session on the Human Rights, Fracking and Climate Change, the 10 international judges on the ruling panel issued a strongly worded Preliminary Statement.

In it, the judges state that evidence presented during the session by dozens of groups and individuals from four continents demonstrates that fracking and related industries contravene the rights of people as well as those of other species and ecosystems—and not accidentally.

The testimonies, said the judges, "underline that the violations of [human] rights are generally planned and implemented intentionally, as well as being hidden when possible and denied when exposed."

Also, they note, governments abet these practices by failing to provide enforceable regulations or appropriate judicial remedies for affected communities, "thus providing corporations an excuse to operate within a regime of impunity."

The judges' most stinging condemnation came in the summation: "The evidence clearly demonstrates that the processes of fracking contribute substantially to anthropogenic harm, including climate change and global warming, and involve massive violations of a range of substantive and procedural human rights and the rights of nature. Thus the industry has failed to fulfil[l] its legal and moral obligations. The evidence also shows that governments have, in general, failed in their responsibility to regulate the industry…to protect people, communities and nature. They have failed to act promptly and effectively to the dangers of climate change that fracking represents."

The Coalition to Protect New York, which covers more than a 20 Central and Southern Tier counties, was among those who testified. Upon reading the preliminary statement, representative Maura Stephens said, "People of our region were honored to be heard in this respected international forum. We expect that the judges, in weighing evidence from us and those who cohabit our planet, will reach the inevitable conclusion that the fossil-fuel industry causes egregious harm to the rights of humans and other species on Earth. We trust that their learned opinions will hold sway in radically altering the policies of nations, although the United States is now held in thrall by corporate forces who seem determined to doom us to extinction."

The judges' final Advisory Opinion, which will take months to complete, will answer four questions posed to the Tribunal (read them here) and evaluate and make recommendations for ways to evolve existing local, national and international legal systems to ensure that the rights of people and Nature are guaranteed; strengthen the role of local communities and indigenous peoples in buttressing inviolable rights including that of self-determination; and unite the diverse actors working toward these rights around the globe.

The judges pointedly commended the steering group and organizers of this session, whose extraordinary efforts made it possible with limited resources to convene a disparate group of people from many countries to present evidence and testimony to the global panel.

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