Ignorantia Facti Excusat? The Viability of Due Diligence As a Model to Establish International Criminal Accountability for Corporate Actors Purchasing Natural Resources from Conflict Zones

Abstract

Corporations purchasing natural resources from conflict regions indirectly contribute to perpetuating often devastating armed conflicts. As a result, calls to hold these corporations accountable for their contribution to the financing of bloody armed conflicts have grown louder in recent years. The current contribution aims to assess the potential of the Rome Statute framework to address corporate involvement in the illegal exploitation of natural resources, focusing specifically on the role of corporate actors in purchasing natural resources from conflict regions. For this purpose, the contribution focuses on the war crime of pillage. It identifies opportunities, constraints and challenges offered by the war crime of pillage. The most important challenge that the current contribution identifies is the issue of mens rea for corporate actors. In search for solutions, the contribution assesses to what extent the investigative duty that is inherent in the due diligence standard could help to determine knowledge for the purpose of international criminal law.

Keywords: international criminal law, due diligence, human rights, natural resources