Authorities in countries including France, Germany, the US and the UK must take immediate steps to start holding companies criminally accountable for serious human rights abuses, including those committed overseas, Amnesty International said today as it co-hosted the launch of a new set of principles for dealing with corporate crime. A group of legal experts, with the support of Amnesty International and the International Corporate Accountability Roundtable (ICAR), have developed a set of “Corporate Crime Principles” to advance the investigation and prosecution of human rights cases...The Corporate Crime Principles aim to address business involvement in a broad range of crimes linked to human rights abuses...[T]hey highlight, in particular, cross-border crime where a business headquartered in one country is involved in criminal activity in another...The principles highlight how political will and the commitment of law enforcement to tackling serious crimes can galvanize action in future cases...The Principles also serve as a call to action for law enforcement officials to take on corporate crime cases, backed-up with practical guidance on how to more effectively investigate such cases.