Paper/Proposal Title
The Shortcomings of Corporate Accountability in Post-Conflict Colombia: Land, Rivers and Animals
Location
Presented remotely
Start Date
12-3-2021 8:30 AM
End Date
12-3-2021 10:00 AM
Keywords
Corporate Accountability, Transitional Justice.
Abstract
Although the notion of sustainable peace requires acknowledging the role played by all actors, transitional processes around the world have inadequately addressed or completely ignored the direct and indirect participation of economic actors. In particular, Colombia's transitional justice regime left out corporations entirely. A skillshare between Colombian lawyers and US-based human rights attorneys showed some of the gaps that let corporations continue in impunity for profiting, benefiting from, or directly financing the conflict. Other than harming and deeply fracturing communities, the shortcomings of corporate accountability in post-conflict Colombia also leave land, rivers, and animals without redress. This paper explores some ways to achieve redress, even when the law seems to be tailored to fit companies' economic interests.
Author/Speaker Biographical Statement(s)
Isabella Ariza is a Human Rights lawyer with an L.L.M. from Harvard Law School. She served as a Harvard Public Service Venture Fund legal fellow at the Corporate Accountability Lab. Between 2016 and 2019, she was a litigation attorney based in Bogotá, Colombia. She currently clerks at the Compliance Oversight Unit of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Luisa Fernanda Gomez Betancur is a constitutional lawyer with a M.A.S. in Transitional Justice, Human Rights, and the Rule of Law from the Geneva Academy. She served as a legal adviser at the Colombian Constitutional Court, a researcher for the Essex Transitional Justice Network, and a Brain Trust Member of Corporate Accountability Lab. Recently, she worked for the Victims Participation and Reparation Section at the International Criminal Court, the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights, and the American Bar Association. Currently, she is a Consulting Attorney in CIEL’s People, Land, and Resources Program.
The Shortcomings of Corporate Accountability in Post-Conflict Colombia: Land, Rivers and Animals
Presented remotely
Although the notion of sustainable peace requires acknowledging the role played by all actors, transitional processes around the world have inadequately addressed or completely ignored the direct and indirect participation of economic actors. In particular, Colombia's transitional justice regime left out corporations entirely. A skillshare between Colombian lawyers and US-based human rights attorneys showed some of the gaps that let corporations continue in impunity for profiting, benefiting from, or directly financing the conflict. Other than harming and deeply fracturing communities, the shortcomings of corporate accountability in post-conflict Colombia also leave land, rivers, and animals without redress. This paper explores some ways to achieve redress, even when the law seems to be tailored to fit companies' economic interests.
Comments
This paper was made available for download with the permission of the authors. Permission documentation is on file. Copyright 2021 by the Authors.