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Focus on International Justice – May

Civitas Maxima

Focus on International Justice – May

Legal advances in corporate accountability

The EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) received final European ministerial approval this month. This historic law will impose human rights and environmental protection standards on the largest companies operating in the EU, across their entire value chains. The wide scope of this directive imposes obligations on companies to prevent and address harm that they may cause or contribute to, with regards to worker’s rights, protection of local populations, and impact on the environment. It also includes civil liability clauses – which will allow trade unions and NGOs to hold companies that violate these obligations accountable before courts and claim compensation for the damage caused.

Corporate accountability cases have been building up worldwide. This month alone, American courts have heard victims in the case against Chiquita, a multinational banana company accused of funding paramilitary groups that killed and terrorised local populations in Urabá, Colombia, and NGOs are challenging British legislation which they claim is allowing companies to ‘buy’ their way out of accountability for buying and selling cotton produced through Uyghur forced labour.

Companies operating in illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine are facing legal challenges in Ireland and the Netherlands. NGOs have asked the Irish Criminal Assets Bureau to investigate and seize the assets of 11 companies operating in settlements in occupied Palestine. A criminal complaint against travel company Booking.com was made public this month. The company is accused of money laundering in connection to war crimes for listing hostels in illegal settlements. 

Companies that not only cause grave violations to human rights and the destruction of the environment, but also profit from them, should be held responsible for the damage they cause. Legal obligations, when they are implemented to their full capacity, can push companies to conduct their operations in a way which protects and promotes the respect for human rights and the environment.

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What else happened this month?

[Syria] Ground-breaking cases in France – On Friday 24 May, French courts handed down a historic verdict against three leading Syrian officials in the Dabbagh case. Ali Mamlouk – current special advisor to Bashar Al-Assad and former head of Syria’s highest intelligence authority – and two others were found guilty of complicity in crimes against humanity and war crimes and sentenced to life imprisonment. This spear-heading case saw the most high-level Syrian officials to ever be tried for war crimes, and a live French to Arabic translation made available to the public. The Franco-Syrian double nationality of two of the victims allowed for the defendants to be tried in absentia.

Also this month, Appeal judges in Paris considered whether French judges can go even further and try President Bashar al-Assad, despite his immunity as an acting head of state.

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[Crimes against migrants] Cases before UN and European human rights bodies – NGOs have supported filings of cases before the UN Human Rights Committee against Tunisia and before the European Court of Human Rights against Frontex, the European Union’s border agency.

In Tunisia, a group of Sudanese refugees saw their camp in Tunis raided before they were driven to the desert and left there. In Libya, Frontex is accused of sharing the locations of refugee boats with Libyan authorities, allowing them to conduct unlawful ‘pull backs’. The complaints hold that these practices amount to torture and complicity in crimes against humanity.  

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[Indigenous rights] Rights of Sámi peoples under threat in Finland and Norway – The Finnish Sámi Truth and Reconciliation Commission released its final report earlier this month. The report reveals that historic systemic violations of the rights of the Sámi indigenous people in Finland continue to occur and the groups are not sufficiently protected by the state.

The Norwegian Supreme Court has ruled that the Sámi people living in Karasjok, Northern Norway, do not have collective property rights over the land. The decision has been criticised for contradicting the Sámi understanding of collective ownership.

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[UK] Inquiry into British military abuses in Kenya – Authorities in Nanyuki, Kenya, held days of public hearings on alleged abuses committed by the British Army Training Unit in Kenya (BATUK) against civilians. Victims testified to abuses ranging from killings and sexual violence to property and environmental damage. Evidence gathered through this inquiry is expected to form the basis of legal action taken against the British military.

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[Democratic Republic of the Congo] Kasai conflict before military court – 11 political and military leaders are standing trial before a military court in Tshikapa, the Democratic Republic of Congo, for war crimes and crimes against humanity. They are alleged to have been members of the Bana Mura militia, which has been reported to have committed international crimes during the conflict which resulted in thousands of deaths and the displacement of 1.4 million people in and around Kasai between 2016 and 2019.

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[Afghanistan] Prosecutions of a whistleblower and a former child soldier – David McBride, a former military lawyer, has been sentenced to nearly 6 years imprisonment by a court in Australia. He was convicted of stealing and sharing military secrets for exposing information implicating Australian armed forces in war crimes committed in Afghanistan.

The US Supreme Court has refused the appeal of a former Guantanamo detainee who was convicted, after pleading guilty, of murdering an American soldier in Afghanistan when he was 15 years old. He had filed to vacate his conviction which was based on military legislation passed after the acts in question. 

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[Bosnia and Herzegovina] UN votes Genocide Memorial Day – The General Assembly of the United Nations has voted to designate the 11th of July as the International Day of Reflection and Commemoration of the 1995 Genocide in Srebrenica. This date marks the first day of a systematic attack on Bosniak Muslims which saw over 8000 men and boys executed. The town of Srebrenica had been declared a safe area under UN protection by the UN Security Council during the Bosnian war.

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[Gaza] News from international courts – This month, the International Criminal Court received a complaint filed by NGO Reporters without Borders for war crimes committed by the Israeli army against Palestinian journalists in Gaza. Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor of the court, applied for arrest warrants against the President and Defence Minister of Israel, as well as three leaders of Hamas, for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Israel and Gaza during and since October 7th.

Following South Africa’s application for provisional measures in its genocide case, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to halt its military offensive in Rafah, southern Gaza. It also made orders related to access to humanitarian assistance and of UN-mandated investigative bodies.

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[Central African Republic] Crimes against humanity case hits hurdle – The President of Guinea Bissau, Umaro Sissoco Embalo, has said that he will not execute the international arrest warrant issued by the Special Criminal Court of the Central African Republic against former president Francois Bozize. The Special Court recently opened a case against Bozize for alleged crimes against humanity committed by the military in Bossembelé military training centre, often referred to as ‘Guantanamo,’ between 2009 and 2013.

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[The Gambia] Crimes against humanity conviction in Switzerland – Ousman Sonko, former interior minister to then-President Yahya Jammeh, was convicted to 20 years in prison by a federal court in Switzerland. He was found guilty of multiple counts of intentional homicide, torture and false imprisonment committed as ‘part of a systematic attack on the civilian population’, within the framework of the dictator’s campaign of repression against opponents of his regime in the Gambia.

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Photo: European Commission flags. Wikimedia Commons.

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