Is it possible to get accountability for alleged war crimes in Yemen? Could European arms exporters be held responsible for the damage their bombs have done? Could this kind of case come to the International Criminal Court (ICC)?
Miriam Saage-Maaß is head of the business and human rights programme at the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights. Details of 26 incidents of airstrikes in Yemen on residential buildings, schools, hospitals, a museum and world heritage sites, which may amount to war crimes, gathered in collaboration with a range of partners, form part of the dossier they delivered to the ICC.
The ECCHR are arguing that European companies involved in the production of Eurofighter Typhoon military aircrafts, Tornado and Mirage aircraft, and those refuelling planes, and exporting of spare parts and maintenance could all be complicit.
These aren’t small names: Airbus, BAE, Dassault.
But these are uncharted waters – corporate actors at the ICC? Which only deals with individuals? Could they be charged as ‘aiders and abettors’? Or maybe the government ministers and officials who signed the export papers? And what other examples are there in the past of putting business people on trial?
Meanwhile Stephanie been watching a different court: the Netflix series on the trial of OJ Simpson.