Forest Crime File: Corporate Crimes

Forest Crime File explores the need for an international instrument on corporate accountability and liability. States are ultimately responsible for public welfare, and they must not abdicate this responsibility to the private sector. Unfortunately states are increasingly doing just this, by relying on voluntary agreements, and by failing to develop international instruments to prevent transnational corporations from slipping through holes in the net of national legislation. The few voluntary initiatives with which some corporations are willing to comply, such as the Global Reporting Initiative, the OECD guidelines, and the UN Global Compact, are just not enough.