Genocide - an introduction
Below are select introductory materials on business and genocide. Further reports from a wide range of sources are in the "Genocide" section of our site.
- Key international standards
- Key reports & guidance
- Concerns, company responses & non-responses
- Positive steps by companies
- Lawsuits regarding genocide
Key international standards
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: article 27
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court: articles 5, 6, 25
Key reports & guidance
Business and International Crimes: Assessing the Liability of Business Entities for Grave Violations of International Law, Fafo [Norway], Sep 2006
Human Rights Watch Speech [PDF]. Gary Steel, Head of Human Resources & Executive Committee member, ABB Group, 3 Mar 2008 [scroll to section 2, page 3]
Commerce, Crime and Conflict: Legal Remedies for Private Sector Liability for Grave Breaches of International Law - A Survey of Sixteen Countries [PDF], Anita Ramasastry and Robert C. Thompson, for Fafo Institute for Applied International Studies (AIS), Sep 2006
Investors Against Genocide:
- How to Divest from Sudan
- Genocide-Free Investing
Concerns, company responses & non-responses
The Resource Centre invites companies to respond to allegations of misconduct. Below are examples of allegations and company responses regarding genocide. We also indicate when a company has not responded.
Positive steps by companies
Global: Barclays Global Investors to develop genocide-free exchange-traded fund
Sudan: Google adds images of Darfur atrocities to Google Earth to raise awareness & help press for action.
Lawsuits regarding genocide
Freeport McMoRan lawsuits (re West Papua)
Related stories and components
Google Earth zooms in on Darfur carnage - Company joins with Holocaust museum to press for action
Author: Verne Kopytoff, San Francisco Chronicle
In an effort to raise awareness about atrocities in Sudan, Google Inc. has updated its online satellite mapping service with images of burned villages, refugee camps and wounded children... Elliot Schrage, Google's vice president of global...
- Related stories: Google adds images of burned towns, refugee camps, wounded children in Darfur to Google Earth - seeks to raise awareness, press for action
- Related in-depth areas: Genocide - an introduction Technology and telecommunication
- Related companies: Google
Macy's Partners With Rwandan Widows
Author: Sarah DiLorenzo, Associated Press
When Macy's decided to sell baskets made by Rwandan widows, the store was swayed in part by the prospect of contributing to a developing economy and in part by the women's tale of suffering during their country's 1994 genocide. But Macy's was clear:...
- Related in-depth areas: Genocide - an introduction Rwanda
- Related companies: DaimlerChrysler (now Daimler) Federated Department Stores (now Macy's) Macy's Starbucks
[DOC] Reply of ABB to “Divest Sudan” campaign
Author: ABB
ABB understands the legitimate concerns among international stakeholders about companies doing business in Sudan... We have no activities in the Darfur area... As a supplier, we have no operations as such in the country, and do not pay direct taxes......
- Related stories: Divest Sudan Blood Stocks? - Mission Statement
- Related in-depth areas: Complicity - an introduction Genocide - an introduction
- Related companies: ABB