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Date: April 29, 2024 Mon
Time: 10:24 pm
Time: 10:24 pm
Results for pillaging
4 results foundAuthor: Stewart, James G. Title: Corporate War Crimes: Prosecuting the Pillage of Natural Resources Summary: Since the end of the Cold War, the illegal exploitation of natural resources has emerged as a primary means of financing armed violence. In countries as diverse as Afghanistan, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, East Timor, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, the sale of natural resources within conflict zones has not only created perverse incentives for war, it has also furnished warring parties with the finances necessary to sustain some of the most brutal hostilities in recent history. As a consequence of the illegal trade in minerals, metals, timber, and other natural resources, armed conflicts in which participants are able to draw upon easily accessible natural resource wealth are often more bloody, financially costly, and intractable than other forms of armed violence. Resource wars also contribute to the so-called resource curse, whereby the richest nations in terms of resource endowment are poorest in terms of social development and most prone to violent upheaval. While there is broad consensus that the correlation between resource wealth and armed violence must be addressed through a range of initiatives geared at fighting corruption, policing the resource sector domestically, and building judicial capacity in countries recovering from war, the liability of foreign businesses for trading in illicit conflict commodities is also vital. Resource wars, after all, are entirely dependent on commercial actors to purchase, transport, and market the resources that are illegally acquired in order to sustain violence. As part of this growing interest in resource wars, Corporate War Crimes: Prosecuting the Pillage of Natural Resources explores the elements of corporate liability for the war crime of pillage. Although the term pillage has a long pedigree in the laws of war, the offense also features as a contemporary war crime in the statutes of all modern international criminal courts and a large number of domestic criminal systems. In essence, pillage means theft during war, and is synonymous with other equally evocative terms such as looting, spoliation, and plunder. A substantial body of jurisprudence has applied the offense in practice. Modern courts such as the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) enforce the offense as a matter of course. At present, Liberia’s former president Charles Taylor and the former vice-president of Congo Jean- Pierre Bemba are facing trial before international courts for having allegedly perpetrated acts of pillage during war, but the most important precedents derive from World War Two. In the wake of that conflict, a significant number of business representatives were prosecuted for pillaging natural resources in circumstances that are often strikingly similar to corporate practices in modern resource wars. By exploring these cases and the law governing pillage in detail, Corporate War Crimes seeks to guide investigative bodies and war crimes prosecutors engaged with the technicalities of these issues. We also hope that this manual will be useful for advocates, political institutions, and companies interested in curbing resource wars. Our belief is that the deterrent effect created by even a single case is likely to transform conflict financing in a large number of ongoing conflicts. At the same time, we are conscious of the potential humanitarian consequences of depriving warring factions of access to resource wealth in some contexts, and of the serious dangers of tarnishing reputable companies that provide the legitimate investment essential to rehabilitating economies ravaged by war. With this balance in mind, this project seeks to act as a catalyst for reinvigorating prosecution of the war crime of pillage and to bring accountability to companies that illegally trade in conflict commodities. Details: New York: Open Society Institute, 2010. 148p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 1, 2010 at: http://www.soros.org/initiatives/justice/focus/anticorruption/articles_publications/publications/pillage-manual-20101025/pillage-manual-20101025.pdf Year: 2010 Country: International URL: http://www.soros.org/initiatives/justice/focus/anticorruption/articles_publications/publications/pillage-manual-20101025/pillage-manual-20101025.pdf Shelf Number: 120138 Keywords: Illegal TradeLootingOffenses Against the EnvironmentPillagingProsecutionTheft |
Author: Dranginis, Holly Title: Grand Theft Global: Prosecuting the War Crime of Pillage in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Summary: From the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) to the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) to Al-Shabaab, many of the world's most infamous and destabilizing armed actors today finance their activities in part through the illegal exploitation and trade of natural resources. Theft in the context of armed conflict constitutes the war crime of pillage, which is punishable in most domestic jurisdictions and at the International Criminal Court (ICC). Prosecuting armed actors and their facilitators for natural resource pillage can help reduce incomes for perpetrators of atrocities, combat resource exploitation, and end the impunity that enables illegal financial networks to thrive in conflict zones. Furthermore, investigating pillage can strengthen cases addressing violent atrocity crimes like rape and murder by uncovering critical information about command responsibility and criminal intent. Prosecutions are a direct, effective way to help disrupt conflict financing and improve accountability for economic crimes - like trafficking and money laundering - and the atrocities they fuel. Details: Washington, DC: Enough Project, 2015. 27p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 6, 2016 at: http://www.enoughproject.org/files/GrandTheftGlobal-PillageReport-Dranginis-Enough-Jan2015.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Congo, Democratic Republic URL: http://www.enoughproject.org/files/GrandTheftGlobal-PillageReport-Dranginis-Enough-Jan2015.pdf Shelf Number: 139285 Keywords: Illegal TradeNatural ResourcesOffenses Against the EnvironmentPillagingWar Crimes |
Author: Smith, J.J.P. Title: The plundering of the Sahara: Corporate criminal and civil liability for the taking of natural resource from Western Sahara Summary: Western Sahara, the last European colony in Africa that is to undergo self-determination, has abundant natural resources. Among them is a rich Atlantic Ocean fishery, substantial phosphate deposits and promising petroleum reserves. They continue to be developed by Morocco more than 35 years after that country's armed annexation of the territory. The insistence of the Saharawi people that they do not consent to or benefit from resource extraction in the occupied part of their territory underscores state liability under international humanitarian and reparations law, while engaging the civil and criminal liability of individual Moroccans responsible. The parallel liabilities of corporate actors involved in the taking of natural resources from Western Sahara are considered. The nature and value of the taking by foreign corporations is surveyed, together with the forms of liability particular to individual corporate actors. A detailed consideration is made of the triggering and application of international criminal law to corporate actors directly and indirectly engaged in taking of resources from the territory. The availability of international and domestic fora, remedies and the standing of representatives of the Saharawi people are assessed. Details: Unpublished paper, 2011. 41p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 9, 2017 at: http://arso.org/PlunderingoftheaharaSmith.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Africa URL: http://arso.org/PlunderingoftheaharaSmith.pdf Shelf Number: 131174 Keywords: Natural Resources Offenses Against the Environment PillagingPlundering Theft of Natural Resources |
Author: Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies Title: Culture in Crisis: Preserving Cultural Heritage in Conflict Zones Summary: There is nothing new about the looting and destruction of cultural property. The Roman Emperor Titus looted and then razed the Jewish temple in Jerusalem, Napoleon shipped art taken during his conquests back to the Louvre, the Nazis and Soviets emptied museums and private collections, their fellow Americans have looted Native American sites. Even in peacetime, monuments like the Elgin marbles and the Pergamon Altar have found their way into foreign hands, often claiming to provide protection. The monuments and works of art that remain intact and in place from prior civilizations are only those that happened to survive. Twenty-first-century technology has, however, changed the scale and quality of the looting and destruction. When the Islamic State took over a large part of Syria and Iraq in 2014, it organized a massive effort to loot artifacts that could be transported and destroyed what it could of the rest. The objective was two-fold: to demonstrate disdain for the culture that preceded Islam and to enrich the Islamic State's financial resources. Modern technology, including high explosives and earth-moving equipment, and global transportation networks made this possible on a scale not previously attempted. Many thousands of sites were looted and their artifacts sold into a world market, major monuments were destroyed, and many millions of dollars flowed into Islamic State coffers. This appalling contemporary evolution of an age-old practice has attracted a good deal of public attention in the United States, Europe, and beyond. The 2001 Taliban destruction of the Bamian Buddhas and the looting of the Baghdad Museum after the 2004 invasion had sensitized Europeans and Americans, but they were still unprepared for the systematic, high-profile destruction that the Islamic State indulges in. The desire to "do something" was immediate and compelling. What to do is far less clear. That was the issue the Antiquities Coalition raised in December 2015 with six master's students at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) enrolled in a practicum on "cultural racketeering and cleansing." Antiquities Coalition wanted to know about best practices for law and law enforcement in the fight against the illicit antiquities trade, including what is done that works for nature conservation and historical preservation. Could easements or buying land be used to protect archaeological sites? How does the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) compare with the UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Import, Export, and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property? How can the UNESCO Convention be improved and strengthened? For those of us who live and work in the U.S., American government policy is an area of particular concern. Through the use of bilateral agreements, the U.S. has imposed import restrictions on archaeological material from 16 countries, in an effort to reduce the incentive for pillage by discouraging trade in undocumented cultural objects. What effect have these memoranda of understanding had on the antiquities market? On imports into the U.S.? The U.S. has not designated a lead agency for combatting the illicit antiquities trade. Duties currently fall variously to the Departments of Homeland Security, Justice, State, Treasury, and others. How can the government develop an internal reporting structure to better address interagency coordination - especially as antiquities trafficking relates to terrorist financing? International peacekeeping forces, whether through the United Nations or other intergovernmental organizations like NATO, could do more to protect cultural resources in times of instability. Have archaeological sites, museums, or other heritage sites ever been included in a peacekeeping mandate? Are there parallels for the protection of natural resources or even similar economic resources? What is the process for inclusion? The SAIS students divvied up these issues and worked through the spring 2016 semester to elucidate them, with guidance from their Antiquities Coalition "client." This small volume contains the results of their work, which was presented both to the Antiquities Coalition and publicly at SAIS in April 2016. We plan some further work in spring 2017 on these and related issues, in a practicum devoted to the broader issue of "Dealing With Extremists." The already ongoing implosion of the Islamic State and its control of territory should not lull us into forgetting the cultural destruction it has wrought. We should do what we can to beef up efforts to counter cultural racketeering and cleansing. The trade will continue with objects already looted and no doubt grow with the next insurgent onslaught. "Never Again" is a motto all too often observed in the breach. There will be a next time. We need to be ready for it. Details: Washington, DC: Johns Hopkins University; and The Antiquities Coalition, 2017. 150p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 14, 2017 at: http://media.wix.com/ugd/b976eb_fd1b6c924a3f4743897d6990327e99d1.pdf Year: 2017 Country: International URL: http://media.wix.com/ugd/b976eb_fd1b6c924a3f4743897d6990327e99d1.pdf Shelf Number: 146167 Keywords: AntiquitiesArchaeological SitesConflict ZonesCultural PropertyExtremist GroupsIslamic StateLootingPillagingTerrorism |