Corporate Complicity in International Criminal Law: Potential Responsibility of European Arms Dealers for Crimes Committed in Yemen

Authors

Marina Aksenova, IE UniversityFollow

Abstract

This article examines the question of corporate complicity within the framework of international criminal law and, more specifically, at the International Criminal Court (ICC). It does so by referencing a communication to the ICC filed by several non-governmental organizations, inviting the prosecutor to examine potential criminal responsibility of several European corporate officials who are knowingly supplying weapons to the United Arab Emirates/Saudi-led coalition currently engaged in a military offensive in Yemen. This submission raises an important legal question of whether the ICC’s Rome Statute provides for the possibility to hold corporate officials accountable in cases of complicity in gross human rights and humanitarian law violations. This article purports to answer this question by scrutinizing two specific provisions of the Rome Statute: Article 25(3)(c), which discusses aiding and abetting for the purpose of facilitating the commission of a crime, and Article 25(3)(d), which criminalizes contributions to the commission of a crime by a group of persons acting with a common purpose.

Recommended Citation

Marina Aksenova, Corporate Complicity in International Criminal Law: Potential Responsibility of European Arms Dealers for Crimes Committed in Yemen, 30 Wash. Int’l L.J. (2021).
Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/wilj/vol30/iss2/8