Why Journalism Matters-- Investigating international environmental crime
Journalistic investigations drive the gathering campaign to make eco-destruction an international crime. Meanwhile, reporters continue to uncover the rich and powerful hiding inside Pandora's box
2 minute read
Late News:
Two crusading journalists win Nobel Peace Prize for defending freedom of the press
As WJM was preparing for publication today (Friday October 8) , the announcement came that two crusading journalists,-- famous for their pioneering investigations--have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Maria Ressa of the Philippines and and Dmitry Muratov of Russia have been commended for their defence of press freedom in hostile environments.
The Nobel committee described the pair as "representatives of all journalists who stand up for this ideal in a world in which democracy and freedom of the press face increasingly adverse conditions.”
The editors and their news outlets are known for hard-hitting investigations that have angered their countries' rulers, and both have faced significant threats.
Cyberlibel conviction
Ms Ressa was convicted of ‘cyberlibel’ last year, a criminal offence in the Philippines and is still faced with the prospect of six years imprisonment.
She is the CEO and co-founder of the news and investigation site Rappler. She was commended for using freedom of expression to "expose abuse of power, use of violence and growing authoritarianism in her native country.”
The Nobel committee said Mr Muratov, the co-founder and editor of independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta. had for decades defended freedom of speech in Russia under increasingly challenging conditions.
Six journalists killed
Since 1993 six of its journalists have been killed, including the legendary Anna Politkovskya who wrote extensively about the Russian state’s war in Chechnya.
In its citation for this year’s prize the committee summarised the importance of journalistic ideals for the modern world:
“Free, independent and fact-based journalism serves to protect against abuse of power, lies and war propaganda. The Norwegian Nobel Committee is convinced that freedom of expression and freedom of information help to ensure an informed public. These rights are crucial prerequisites for democracy and protect against war and conflict.”
Reference
4 minute read
Is it high time to make environmental destruction an international crime?
“Abuse of the environment is the fourth largest criminal activity in the world.”
Not a claim by an environmental pressure group, but a researched statistic reported by the United Nations Environment Program in 2017.
According to the UNEP report environmental crime is: “Worth up to US$258 billion, it is increasing by five to seven per cent every year and it is converging with other forms of international crime.”
There is nothing that threatens our continuing existence on this planet more than climate change and destruction of the natural world. But at present there is no international crime of ‘ecocide’—widespread destruction of the environment.
By contrast, environmental protesters around the world are routinely arrested, imprisoned and in many cases killed (227 in 2020 alone according to Global Witness).
But no one goes to jail for polluting the air we breathe or contaminating the water we drink.
Inadequate enforcement
Even for existing laws that protect the environment in individual countries, there is inadequate enforcement.
“Networks of business interests, government officials, and criminal groups run illegal operations that harm the environment in multiple ways,” explains a recent report for the Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN) by Toby McIntosh.
Entitled ‘Investigating Environmental Crimes and Climate Change’ McIntosh’s report is part of GIJN’s general advice on covering Organised Crime ahead of the network’s conference in November.
In plain sight
“They drive worldwide illegal trafficking in wildlife and seafood, timber, minerals, hazardous waste, and toxic chemicals. Such environmental crimes are sometimes connected with other criminal activity, such as drug trafficking and money laundering.”
Often these crimes are taking place in plain sight and are blended in with legal trading and industrial activities.
“Climate change is hastened by various environmental crimes. Most notably, illegal logging contributes to deforestation. Also, banned substances that contribute to warming are sold on the black market.”
And very little investigation is required to find current examples from around the world that illustrate the scale of the crisis.
Deforestation crisis
In Africa, criminal activity in the logging sector is well established and growing rapidly. The continent is suffering rates of deforestation that are double that of the global average.
This issue is set out in comprehensive detail in In a research paper entitled Razing Africa: Combatting criminal consortia in the logging sector
“Organised-crime syndicates – often with connections to Chinese markets – have been consolidating illegal timber exploitation in various African countries on an unprecedented and accelerating scale.
“This report… analyses the layers of criminality that have come to define the logging supply chain, from extraction of rare species through to the sale of high-value timber in international markets.”
And in Gambia deforestation generated an estimated USD $356 million over twenty years. During that time The country’s president Yahya Jammeh has moved profits through cash and well-recognized international banks.
Or look at Bulgaria where poor regulation and industrial practice allow toxic waste illegally imported from countries like Italy and the UK to be incinerated as municipal waste, threatening the environment of Bulgarian cities.
The growing recognition of the impact of environmental crimes has sparked a movement to formally establish ecocide as the so-called Fifth Crime in the lexicon of the International Criminal Court.
This campaign has gathered an unlikely coalition of advocates—ocean states like Vanuatu and the Maldives as well as politicians like French President Macron, and even Pope Francis.
It’s a sin
“The Pope describes ecocide as ‘the massive contamination of air, land and water,’ or ‘any action capable of producing an ecological disaster,’ and has proposed making it a sin for Catholics,” reported Inside Climate News earlier this year.
President Macron of France has described the burning of Amazon rainforests as ‘ecocide’ and blaming Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro for reckless mismanagement of a planetary resource.
The modern campaign to criminalise ecocide began in December 2019 when Vanuatu and the Maldives-- two island nations threatened by rising seas and extreme weather—asked the court to consider amending its statute to ‘criminalise acts that amount to ecocide.’
But hopeful signs have come this year via court decisions cited by the European Greens in their Maltese newsletter and published in the Malta Independent.
Court decisions
These decisions indicate that court action is leading to more meaningful progress than brought about by politicians; the decisions are also setting precedents that can be followed around the world.
“This year, court cases have been won delivering amazing and unprecedented victories for the environment,” says the Greens report.
“In Germany, the supreme constitutional court recently ruled that the government’s climate protection measures are insufficient… The German government has until the end of 2022 to improve its Climate Protection Act.
“This follows a similar case by Friends of the Earth against the Irish government in 2020.
“Another incredible court victory took place in a district court of the Hague in May of this year. This time, instead of against a government, it was against one of the most powerful corporations in the world.
“ The Hague ordered Royal Dutch Shell to cut its global carbon emissions by 45% by the end of 2030 compared to 2019 levels.”
Reference
GIJN Environmental crimes and climate change
Inside Climate News -- Ecocide
5 minute read
Pandora Papers
How Christmas came early for the world’s financial investigative journalists
They started off with the Panama Papers in 2016 , then quickly moved on to the Paradise Papers the following year, but now the world’s journalistic investigators appear to have hit the jackpot with the Pandora Papers.
Like the others before it, this latest blockbuster inquiry into offshore wealth and investment has been produced by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), based in Washington, and working with 150 media outlets around the world.
Most importantly it is the biggest window ever opened on the murky world of tax havens and offshore finance.
600 journalists
More than 600 journalists in 117 countries have been trawling through the files from 14 separate sources for several months before the worldwide publication in early October.
Offshore wealth matters because it is sheltered from governments, often quite legally, who would otherwise tax it as income or capital gains.
And the sums in question are monumental. According to the ICIJ, estimates for the amount of money squirrelled away in offshore tax havens range from $5.6 trillion to $32 trillion.
And of course offshore shell companies that hide the names of their true owners can be used for laundering money from crime and corruption.
12 million files, 2.94TB of data… for those overwhelmed by this tsunami of information, The BBC, (one of the ICIJ’s UK partners along The Guardian) has published a readable and digestible summary of the Pandora project on its website.
London and the UK feature prominently in the Pandora revelations as London remains a popular place for secretive property investment among the super rich.
Britain’s connection
The Pandora Papers confirm Britain’s connection to the world’s network of tax havens.
The Visual Capitalist is a website that uses infographics to illustrate how the capitalist system works based on available data. They have compiled a survey of the top 20 world tax haven destinations for private wealth based on level of secrecy and their percentage of the offshore market.
The Anglosphere figures prominently.
“…one surprising thing many of them have in common is a link to England. In addition to the UK, four of the top 20 tax havens—Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands, Guernsey, and Jersey—are British Overseas Territories or Crown Dependencies.”
And when it comes to corporations looking for places to shelter from taxes,the British connection scores highly once again.
“The Tax Justice Network’s 2021 assessment of corporate tax havens listed the British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, and Bermuda as the top three corporate tax havens.”
But be in no doubt stories developed from the Pandora papers touch on individuals and organisations that span the globe—and are being read by a global audience.
ICIJ reports: “The 150 news outlets that joined the investigative partnership include The Washington Post, the BBC, The Guardian, Radio France, Oštro Croatia, the Indian Express, Zimbabwe’s The Standard, Morocco’s Le Desk and Ecuador’s Diario El Universo.”
Global cast
And a global cast of characters play their part. The King of Jordan and his multimillion dollar property empire, the presidents of Ukraine, Kenya and Ecuador, the prime minister of the Czech Republic, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Not to mention the many friends and associates of Russian president Vladimir Putin who have acquired wealth that is yet to be explained.
Pop star Shakira, supermodel Claudia Schiffer and Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar all make an appearance, and all make their excuses when asked for a comment.
In attendance you will also find judges, public officials, suspected mobsters and other people with influence over the way the world works.
The ICIJ puts it this way: “The leaked records reveal that many of the power players who could help bring an end to the offshore system instead benefit from it – stashing assets in covert companies and trusts while their governments do little to slow a global stream of illicit money that enriches criminals and impoverishes nations.”
Over the past five years these data leaks and revelations by the ICIJ have elicited a response that is often been cynical and dismissive. ‘The rich have always found ways of staying rich, and no one is ever held to account’.
Billions traced
But the ICIJ strongly refute this analysis of events and point to what was achieved as a result of the Panama papers leak in 2016.
“…governments have reported using Panama Papers to help recoup or seize tens of millions of dollars in unpaid taxes or other assets, including more than $80 million in Colombia, $1 million in Slovenia and 375 pounds of silver bullion in Australia. Billions more are being traced for potential tax evasion.”
Interested parties can be certain that the revelations will continue into the future. It takes a long time to piece together everything of significance in 12 million files.
Despite the glittering gifts made available right now, you can be sure that the Pandora Papers won’t just be for Christmas.
Reference
2 minute read
Afghan update
The man who has lost his country but remains very proud of his fellow journalists
“After the flight of President Ashraf Ghani and his team our national army collapsed, our national police collapsed, our parliament and our government and its institutions collapsed, but media is still there. They’re working and they have continued reporting. And for that I feel honoured to be part of this community.”
He is now a refugee living in Turkey with his family but respected editor and journalist Sami Mahdi believes that international pressure can still be be put on the Taliban to respect ‘freedom of expression, women’s rights, human rights’.
He expressed his thoughts in a compelling online webinar for the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, based in the UK, recorded earlier this week. He laid bare the extent of the tragedy that has befallen Afghanistan, but still expressed hope for the future.
“The international community still has leverage over the Taliban. The Taliban are seeking recognition and international aid. These two things shouldn’t be given… as gifts,” he commented.
Among other achievements Mahdi founded the Payk Centre of Investigative Journalism in Kabul and was bureau chief Afghanistan for Radio Azadi (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty).
He said that reliable reporting was continuing inside the country thanks to the bravery and determination of the journalists who remain there.
“Leaks from journalists on the ground in Afghanistan are turned into stories by those editors now living outside of the country,” he explained.
“After the flight of President Ashraf Ghani and his team our national army collapsed, our national police collapsed, our parliament and our governemnt and its institutions collapsed,…but media is still there.
“ They’re working and they have continued reporting. And for that I feel honoured to be part of this community. I see my colleagues are so brave, so courageous and they are reporting in unbelievable circumstances.”
Reference
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