Blood Cobalt: Unmasking And Charging Corporations For Involvement In International Law Violations In The Democratic Republic Of Congo

Abstract

Joint Criminal Enterprise (JCE) is a legal doctrine developed by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to hold participants in a criminal enterprise equally liable for all results of the group’s criminal actions, even if the individuals were not directly involved in committing the crimes. While traditionally used to prosecute individual criminal actions, JCE provides a legal pathway to hold corporations criminally liable for their actions that further international law violations. Although corporations currently do not have specific, listed responsibilities under international law, they are required to respect human rights and ensure their activities do not perpetrate human rights violations. This Comment argues that in buying illegally sourced cobalt from Congolese March 23 Movement (M23) rebels out of Ugandan and Rwandan markets, many transnational corporations satisfy the elements required by the third culpability of JCE and can be held criminally liable for the violations of human and environmental rights, such as forced labor, enslavement of women and children, and deforestation