Financing Atrocity, Forging Accountability: New Strategies for International Justice

What should the international justice movement look like? What does its future hold? While often symbolized by the International Criminal Court and its founding treaty, the Rome Statute, the movement actually encompasses a diverse range of national courts, regional or hybrid tribunals, and investigative mechanisms developed in the aftermath of conflict.

Some of these mechanisms have recorded major successes, holding fair trials that helped to re-establish the rule of law and bring a measure of justice to shattered societies. Many others have struggled, however, hampered by inefficiency, lack of funding, and a failure to investigate the structural causes of mass violence, including those who finance atrocity and profit from it: While economic crimes and grave violence often occur in tandem, commercial actors responsible for facilitating serious international crimes—or profiting from them—have rarely been held accountable by international courts. 

This panel explores these challenges through the publication of two major new reports by The Sentry and the Open Society Justice Initiative. Through a moderated discussion, it will explore more deeply the connections between international financiers—from banks to mining companies—and atrocity crimes, highlight lessons for the design of future accountability mechanisms, and consider new and emerging avenues for pursuing international justice.