Corporate Complicity for Peace development & International Humanitarian Law: A Case Study of Pakistan

Abstract

Corporate complicity is an old and acknowledged reality in the context of violation of human rights, requiring greater attention from the International Humanitarian Law (IHL). History shows that every big corporation, from Subcontinent to Africa, whenever had an opportunity to exploit humanity for the sake of their individual business interests, they did it without any fear of conviction. Indeed, in armed conflict situations, the possibility of violation of human rights on the part of big corporations even becomes more likely, due to lack of an effective system or mechanism to scrutinize their activities. Pakistan, a developing country, is not an exception, fitting in this general pattern. Particularly, due to lack of an effective domestic mechanism to fully implement the IHL, exploitation of human rights at the hands of business giants are recorded in the country.  It is argued that China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a mega project, will likely make an increase in number of violations of human rights by large companies in Pakistan. Considering so, this paper will primarily focus on how this issue can be addressed, in order to control or minimize infringement of human rights by big corporations in Pakistan. In doing so, the proposed paper will suggest a domestic mechanism that could effectively implement the IHL, restricting foreign corporations, that operate inside Pakistan, from violating basic rights of its citizens.