Illicit Exploitation of Natural Resources - Art. 28L Bis of the Malabo Protocol

in C Jalloy and K Clarke (eds), The African Court of Justice and Human and Peoples' Rights (2017)

Grotius Centre Working Paper 2017/064-SDL

27 Pages Posted: 3 Aug 2017

See all articles by Daniëlla Dam

Daniëlla Dam

Leiden University - Leiden Law School

James Graham Stewart

University of British Columbia (UBC), Faculty of Law

Date Written: July 31, 2017

Abstract

Article 28A(1)(13) of the Protocol to the Statute of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights lists ‘Illicit exploitation of natural resources’ as a criminal offense within the Court’s jurisdiction. In conjunction with the new mandate of the African Court, which includes the exercise of jurisdiction over corporations for the first time in an international treaty, the prohibition of “illicit exploitation of natural resources” creates an offense with especially sharp teeth, for business people, their corporations, military actors and politicians. The crime constitutes an important innovation in international law, since it offers a distinct legal basis for prosecution of a wider array of acts covered by the war crime of pillage. Nonetheless, it also comes with a set of major limitations, not the least of which is its great vagueness. This chapter offers a critical doctrinal overview of the seven sub-offenses that fall within the wider banner of this new crime of Illicit Exploitation, simultaneously pointing to a range of interpretative possibilities that might accord with recent thinking about the relationship between law and resource predation.

Keywords: natural resources, international criminal law, Malabo Protocol, illicit exploitation

Suggested Citation

Dam, Daniëlla and Stewart, James Graham, Illicit Exploitation of Natural Resources - Art. 28L Bis of the Malabo Protocol (July 31, 2017). in C Jalloy and K Clarke (eds), The African Court of Justice and Human and Peoples' Rights (2017), Grotius Centre Working Paper 2017/064-SDL , Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3011342

Daniëlla Dam (Contact Author)

Leiden University - Leiden Law School ( email )

P.O. Box 9520
2300 RA Leiden, NL-2300RA
Netherlands

James Graham Stewart

University of British Columbia (UBC), Faculty of Law ( email )

1822 East Mall
Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z1
Canada
604.822.9719 (Phone)
604.822.8108 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.jamesgstewart.com

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