Prosecuting Corporations for Genocide under International Law

Michael J. Kelly, Creighton University School of Law

Abstract

Large multi-national corporations are increasingly implicated as complicit in genocide and crimes against humanity around the world. Their engagement with developing countries increased as global trade increased in the last quarter of the 20th Century. As they came to do business with more brutal governments, their involvement with the repressive tactics of those governments became inevitable. Sometimes, this leads to a symbiotic relationship – as in the case of Darfur, Sudan. China’s national petroleum corporation is inextricably linked to the genocide in Darfur, where the Sudanese government has wiped out black populations to allow for exploration and drilling. This article explores the reasons why corporations have not been prosecuted for such involvement and argues that they should be.