CORPORATIONS’ WRONGDOINGS AT THE PROOF OF THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM: MISSION IMPOSSIBLE OR INTERNATIONAL NEED?

author Maria Giovanna Brancati
journal RIDP (ISSN: 0223-5404)
volume 2022
issue Contemporary challenges and alternatives to international criminal justice
section Articles
date of publication Dec. 6, 2022
language English
pagina 187
abstract

For some time, the commission of atrocity crimes by corporate actors has been increasing at both
national and international levels, also due to the changing balance of power between public and
private actors. Their involvement in situations that to all intents and purposes can be defined as
international crimes (eg, forced labour, slavery, serious environmental crimes, war crimes) is thus
under public attention. Therefore, questions have been raised about the need of making
corporations accountable at the International Criminal Court (ICC). This contribution is offering
a double perspective for addressing this issue: first, several existing possibilities in the context of
the ICC regulation for improving the individual responsibility of business leaders will be
investigated. Then, the introduction of an explicit punishability clause for juridical persons in the
Rome Statute, enlightening advantages as well as caveats of this approach, will be considered.
Lastly, several alternatives to the ICC and, more generally, to criminal justice will be suggested,
pointing out that the ICC system of justice may better remain an ‘extrema ultima ratio’.