"Ian Binnie on the Corporate Crimes Principles and Bridging the Impunity Gap", 4 Oct 2017

The United States, France, Germany, and the UK need to start taking steps to hold multinational corporations criminally accountable for human rights abuses.

That's the conclusion of a group of legal experts who earlier this year released a report titled The Corporate Crimes Principles...

One of those experts who headed the effort is Ian Binnie, a retired Supreme Court Justice in Canada. He currently practices law at Lenczner Slaght in Toronto...

"When you have multinational companies operating around the world and the legal systems are national in scope, it becomes very difficult to hold corporations liable, both civilly and criminally. The courts could have been more adventurous in fashioning remedies to deal with transnational crime and civil liability."...

"Whereas in criminal procedure, there is a more level playing field. The corporate defendant is well resourced, but so is the state. The problem in the criminal field is generally the lack of political will to prosecute these offenses."...

"...[T]here are enough serious outrageous abuses of human rights out there. And the criminal law is the most effective way to get at it. And it should be coupled with concern for the victims and an attempt to get some civil redress, which will get some compensation for the victims, rather than just punishment for the corporations. But the criminal law has an important role to play."...

[Refers to Anvil Mining (part of China Minmetals)]