Corporate Complicity in Atrocity Crimes: A Business and Human Rights Law Problem Set
In recent years, European Union Member States have launched a series of prosecutions for atrocity crimes under national law in domestic judicial fora. These cases have established that domestic courts can play a critical role in advancing the global criminal justice project. Despite the rise in these cases, one actor within the atrocity crimes landscape is frequently overlooked: the corporation. While there have been recent attempts to hold individual executive corporate officers accountable for their complicity in atrocity crimes, prosecutions that hold the corporation accountable as a juridical entity are few and far between. At the same time, European multinational enterprises are increasingly coming under the ambit of new human rights due diligence laws, informed by the United Nations Guiding Principles. However, to date, these human rights due diligence laws have failed to confront whether corporations should face criminal liability for their complicity in the commission of atrocity crimes. This Note places these two developments in conversation. It demonstrates that the current patchwork approach to criminal liability across Europe for atrocity crimes results in a significant “accountability gap” for victim communities. Further, it shows that extant human rights due diligence regimes have proven inadequate to remediate rightsholders victimized by corporate involvement in atrocity crimes, resulting in a significant “remedy gap.” This Note argues that the forthcoming transposition process offered by the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive is a critical opportunity to harmonize the European approach concerning juridical liability for corporate complicity for the gravest human rights abuses: atrocity crimes.
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