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Business and Armed Non-State Groups: Challenging the Landscape of Corporate (Un)accountability in Armed Conflicts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 May 2020

Jelena APARAC Open the ORCID record for Jelena APARAC [Opens in a new window]
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Abstract

Economic and armed non-state actors increasingly operate through their transnational activities. International public law excludes them from any international regulation or accountability process. International humanitarian law (IHL, the law of war) as a branch of international public law is an exception to this because it also regulates the behavior of non-state actors. Recent developments pertaining to the potential liability of business entities for involvement in international crimes, particularly when related to the activities of ANSGs challenge the traditional doctrine of international law and demonstrate the need for its norms to adapt to an evolving reality.

Keywords

armed conflictsarmed groupscorporationsICCinternational crimesinternational criminal lawLafarge
Type
Developments in the Field
Information
Business and Human Rights Journal , Volume 5 , Issue 2 , July 2020 , pp. 270 - 275
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2020

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Footnotes

*

Lecturer and Legal Advisor in International Law, Croatia; Member of the UN Working Group on Mercenaries. This paper has not received any external funding. Dr Jelena Aparac declares no conflicts of interest.

References

1 Official documents of the French Court of Appeals are not made public.

2 ‘Lafarge lawsuit (re complicity in crimes against humanity in Syria)’, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/lafarge-lawsuit-re-complicity-in-crimes-against-humanity-in-syria (accessed 13 February 2020).

3 French law no. 2011-1862 (13 December 2011, establishing the 5th Division); French Code of Criminal Procedure, art 682 (governing the Division’s functions).

4 French law no. 2002–268 (26 January 2002) and no. 2010-930 (9 August 2010).

5 ‘Qu’est-ce que le pôle “crimes de guerre” saisi dans l’affaire Ahmed H., cadre présumé de Daesh?’, BFMTV (8 June 2018), https://www.bfmtv.com/police-justice/qu-est-ce-que-le-pole-crimes-de-guerre-saisi-dans-l-affaire-ahmed-h-cadre-presume-de-daesh-1466964.html (accessed 10 February 2020).

6 Special Court for Sierra Leone, Trial Chamber II, The Prosecutor v Charles Ghankay Taylor, ‘Judgment’, SCSL-03-1-T (18 May 2012). UN Security Council, ‘Resolution 2127’, S/RES/2127 (5 December 2013), para 16.

7 French Criminal Code, art 421-2-2.

8 The unit has jurisdiction over crimes against humanity, war crimes, torture and forced disappearances committed in application of the classic criteria of jurisdiction of French courts, but also extraterritorial jurisdiction, when crimes are committed abroad on foreign victims by one or more foreign perpetrators who are present in France or have their residence there. See Devos Aurélie, ‘Juger le passé au présent: une promesse pour l’avenir?’ (2014) 4 Les Cahiers de la Justice 553.

9 Florence Bellivier and Marina Eudes, ‘Le pôle “crimes internationaux” du TGI de Paris: une prometteuse spécialisation de la justice française dans la lutte contre l’impunité des crimes les plus graves’ (2014) 21 Revue de droit pénal et de criminologie 19.

10 French Code of Criminal Procedure, art 93-1.

11 See ‘Crimes contre l’humanité: bilan du pôle du TGI de Paris’, French Ministry of Justice (17 October 2018), http://www.justice.gouv.fr/justice-penale-11330/crimes-contre-lhumanite-bilan-du-pole-du-tgi-de-paris-31897.html (accessed 10 February 2020). See also ‘Crimes contre l’humanité en Syrie: une cellule spécialisée enquête en France’, BFMTV (2 October 2015), https://www.bfmtv.com/international/crimes-contre-l-humanite-en-syrie-une-cellule-specialisee-enquete-en-france-919463.html (accessed 10 February 2020).

12 See ‘Lafarge en Syrie: Le Rôle de la Diplomatie Française en Question’, Novethic (2 February 2018), https://www.novethic.fr/actualite/gouvernance-dentreprise/entreprises-controversees/isr-rse/lafarge-en-syrie-le-role-de-la-diplomatie-francaise-en-question-145397.html (accessed 10 February 2020).

13 See UN Working Group on Mercenaries, ‘Relationship Between Private Military and Security Companies and the Extractive Industry from a Human Rights Perspective’, A/HRC/42/42 (29 July 2019).

14 ICRC, International humanitarian law and the challenges of contemporary armed conflicts: recommitting to protection in armed conflict on the 70th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions, 33IC/19/9.7 (Geneva: ICRC, 2019), 39.

15 Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, 75 UNTS 970, common art 3. US v Alfried Krupp et al, United States Military Tribunal III (1948), 1352–1353.

16 UN Security Council, ‘Letter dated 6 December 2019 from the Panel of Experts on the Central African Republic extended pursuant to resolution 2454 (2019) addressed to the President of the Security Council’, S/2019/930 (14 December 2019), paras 144, 151–152, 156–157.

17 Idem, paras 72–78, 141.

18 UN Security Council, ‘Letter dated 29 November 2019 from the Panel of Experts on Libya established pursuant to resolution 1973 (2011) addressed to the President of the Security Council’, S/2019/914 (9 December 2019).

19 Annyssa Bellal, ‘What are Armed Groups? Focus on State-like Entities and De Facto Authorities’, Geneva Academy (2018).

20 Court of Justice of the European Union, Grand Chamber, Council of the European Union v Front populaire pour la libération de la saguia-el-hamra et du rio de oro (Front Polisario) and European Commission, ‘Appeals Judgement’, C-104/16 P (21 December 2016).

21 UN Security Council, note 16. TRIAL International, Open Society Justice Initiative, ‘Pillage: Swiss Businessman Under Criminal Investigation for War Crimes in the DRC’ (12 December 2019), https://trialinternational.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/press-kit_EN_LowRes__12.12.pdf.

22 Jean-Marie Henckaerts and Louise Doswald-Beck (eds), Customary International Humanitarian Law (Geneva, Cambridge: International Committee of the Red Cross, Cambridge University Press, 2005), rule 139.

23 Ibid.

24 Idem, rule 156.

25 Ibid.

26 ICC, Office of the Prosecutor, Communications Received by the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC (The Hague: ICC, press release no. 009-2003, 16 July 2003). It should be noted that, to this day, only one businessman was indicted. See ICC, Trial Chamber V (A), The Prosecutor v William Samoei Ruto et al, ‘Public redacted version of Decision on Defence Applications for Judgments of Acquittal’, ICC-01/09-01/11-2027 (5 April 2016).

27 XXth International Congress of Penal Law (4 November 2019) (discourse pronounced via video).

28 Desislava Stoitchkova, Towards Corporate Liability in International Criminal Law (Utrecht: Intersentia, 2010). Sandra Wisner, ‘Criminalizing Corporate Actors for Exploitation of Natural Resources in Armed Conflict: UN Natural Resources Sanctions Committees and the International Criminal Court’ (2018) 16:5 Journal of International Criminal Justice 963.