International law
Business and international crimes: assessing the liability of business entities for grave violations of international law
Liability of business entities for violations of international law
Authors:
; FAFO; International Peace Academy
Publisher:
Institute for Applied International Studies, Norway, 2004
This paper summarises the findings of two interrelated studies on the liability of business entities for violations of international law. The studies map the provisions of the relevant international and national laws and summarise the jurisprudence developed by national and international case law.
The studies point out that while there is growing consensus that business activities can have a detrimental impact on security and human rights in weak and war-torn states, to date there are few effective remedies available. In conditions of conflict, host governments lack the capacity, and often the will, to enforce domestic laws relating to business conduct. Likewise lacking are international policy or legal instruments to hold accountable those whose economic transactions contribute to and profit from the perpetration of human rights violations associated with violent conflict.
Main findings include:
- it is possible to hold business entities accountable for international crimes
- in the past individual officers and managers of business entities have been held accountable in civil and criminal courts for violation of international criminal law, including genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes
- yet, while business entities have been found to commit violations, no international forum has the power to prosecute a legal person for the international crimes in question
- domestic courts are possible venues for assessing liability of companies operating abroad
- however, most of the relevant international law is rarely applied domestically. Unless the international norms are formally integrated into domestic legal systems, they cannot often be applied to private sector malfeasance.
The titles of the two studies in full are: “Commentary on the Liability of Private Sector Actors (Business Entities) for Grave Violations of International Law” and “Comparative Survey of Private Sector Liability for Grave Violations of International Law in National Jurisdictions”.
