Bil‘in and beyond – prosecuting corporate complicity in war crimes under Canadian law by Shane Moffatt A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Master of Laws Graduate Department of Law University of Toronto © Copyright by Shane Moffatt 2009 Shane Moffatt, Bil‘in and beyond – prosecuting corporate complicity in war crimes under Canadian law, 2009, LLM, University of Toronto, Faculty of Law Abstract This paper outlines a prosecutorial framework by which Canadian corporations can be held criminally liable for their involvement in war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide. Combining the provisions of the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act with the corporate liability standards found in the Canadian Criminal Code, a standard of liability emerges which appears well designed to generate findings of guilt against multinational corporations with complicated ownership structures, a myriad of representatives and far-flung operations. This model standard, it is hoped, might furthermore contribute to the global debate regarding multinational corporate accountability. By applying the proposed framework to two Canadian corporations constructing internationally illegal settlements on the farmlands of Bil‘in in the West Bank, I therefore seek to test its practical relevance, as well as to demonstrate the theoretical underpinnings and legal sources (domestic and international) which would support its application, both in this instance and beyond. ii Table of Contents 1) Introduction .............................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Legal accountability: an urgent priority ................................................................. 1 1.2 Criminal complicity .............................................................................................. 4 1.3 Structure of paper .................................................................................................. 6 2) Canada’s War Crimes Legislation and Enforcement Programme ......................... 7 2.1 Legislative and procedural framework governing war crimes prosecutions in Canada ........................................................................................................................ 8 2.2 Canadian experience of prosecuting war crimes ..................................................... 8 2.3 Canada‘s Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Programme in practice ......... 9 2.3.1 Focus on immigration and asylum ................................................................... 9 2.3.2 Cost of programme activities ......................................................................... 10 2.3.3 Decisions to prosecute ................................................................................... 11 2.4 Corporate safe haven? .......................................................................................... 12 3) Applying the CHWC to multinational corporations operating from within Canada ........................................................................................................................ 14 3.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 14 3.2 The CHWC and corporate entities ........................................................................ 15 3.3 Personal jurisdiction of Canadian courts under the CHWC ................................... 16 3.4 Corporate criminal liability in Canada .................................................................. 17 3.5 A new standard of complicity for corporate involvement in war crimes ............... 19 3.6 Interrelationship between Section 22.2 and the CHWC ........................................ 20 4) Aiding and abetting the transfer of a civilian population into occupied territory: the case of Bil’in Village Council v Green Park International Inc. and Green Mount International Inc. ........................................................................................................ 23 4.1 Factual scenario ................................................................................................... 23 4.2 Ownership structure ............................................................................................. 27 4.3 Transfer of a civilian population into occupied territory is a war crime under Canadian law ............................................................................................................. 28 iii 4.4 The construction of Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is a war crime under Canadian law ................................................................................... 31 4.5 Recent response of multinational corporations in the West Bank .......................... 34 4.6 Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 36 5) Applying the Law in Practice ................................................................................. 39 5.1 Section 22.2 (c) – two steps .................................................................................. 39 5.2 Representative ...................................................................................................... 40 5.2.1 Definition of a representative ......................................................................... 40 5.2.2 Aiding and abetting a war crime under the CHWC ........................................ 40 5.2.3 Actus Reus ..................................................................................................... 42 5.2.4 Mens Rea ....................................................................................................... 43 5.3 Senior Officer ...................................................................................................... 44 5.3.1 Definition ...................................................................................................... 44 5.3.2 Intention to benefit ........................................................................................ 44 5.3.3 Reasonable steps............................................................................................ 44 5.3.4 Knowledge .................................................................................................... 45 5.4 Outstanding issues................................................................................................ 46 5.4.1 Sentencing ..................................................................................................... 46 5.4.2 Evidentiary requirements ............................................................................... 47 5.4.3 Political will .................................................................................................. 48 6) Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 50 iv 1) Introduction 1.1 Legal accountability: an urgent priority Victims of human rights abuses and groups working on their behalf have increasingly turned to the law to constrain company power: to hold those responsible for abuses accountable and to seek remedies and reparations. This has led to a dynamic development of law: a search for how different branches of national and international law can be harnessed to hold increasingly powerful non-state actors accountable when they do harm.1 - International Commission of Jurists, 2008. Multinational Corporations (MNCs) have been charged with human rights abuses since their arrival on the world stage.2 In recent years, however, international corporate lawlessness has come under increasing scrutiny,3 culminating in the first mandate of a 1 International Commission of Jurists Expert Legal Panel on Corporate Complicity in International Crimes, Volume 1: Facing the Facts and Charting a Legal Path (Geneva: International Commission of Jurists, 2008) at 2 [ICJ, ―Volume 1‖], online: The International Commission of Jurists <http://www.icj.org/IMG/Volume_1.pdf>. 2 In the 1970‘s, British Prime Minister Edward Heath dubbed Roland ―Tiny‖ Rowland‘s Lonhro Corporation ―the unacceptable face of capitalism‖ for its activities in Africa. However, in the 1770‘s, the British East India Trading Company was already conducting itself as ―a rogue state: waging war, administering justice, minting coin and collecting revenue over Indian territory,‖ according to Nicholas B. Dirks in The Scandal of Empire: India and the Creation of Imperial Britain (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2006) at 13. 3 See ICJ, ―Volume 1‖, supra note 1. Also see generally International Council on Human Rights Policy, Beyond Voluntarism: human rights and the developing international legal obligations of companies (Versoix, Switzerland: International Council on Human Rights Policy, 2002) [ICHRP, Beyond Voluntarism], online: The International Council on Human Rights Policy <http://www.ichrp.org/files/reports/7/107_report_en.pdf>; Human Rights Watch (Business section), online: Human Rights Watch <http://www.hrw.org/en/category/topic/business>; Amnesty International (Business section), online: Amnesty International <http://www.amnesty.org/en/business-and-human-rights>; Corporate Watch, a research group supporting campaigning against corporate harm, online: Corporate Watch <http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/?lid=58>; and ―Companies and Human Rights‖ The Economist (27 September 2008), online: Economist.com <http://www.economist.com/businessfinance/displayStory.cfm?story_id=12305032>