Abstract:
This dissertation focuses on the role played by officials of transnational corporations and
transnational corporations themselves in the situation in Burma. The main aim of this dissertation
is to assess the liability of officials of transnational corporations in Burma and transnational
corporations in Burma for crimes against humanity such as slave labour and for war crimes such
as plunder under International Criminal Law. However at present transnational corporations
cannot be prosecuted under International Criminal Law as the International Criminal Court only
has jurisdiction to try natural persons and not legal persons. In doing this analysis the theory of
complicity, actus reus of aiding and abetting and the mens rea of aiding and abetting in relation to
officials of transnational corporations will be explored and analysed to assess the liability of these
officials in Burma. In doing this analysis the jurisprudence of inter alia the Nuremberg cases, the
cases decided by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) will be used. This dissertation also examines
the problems associated with suing or prosecuting transnational corporations due to the legal
personality of transnational corporations and the structure of transnational corporations. At the end
of the dissertation some recommendations are made so as to enable transnational corporations to
be more transparent and accountable under the law.
