France’s highest court recently dismissed an appeal from Lafarge, a French building materials manufacturer, upholding charges of complicity in crimes against humanity. The landmark decision sets a legal precedent, marking Lafarge as the first company globally to face such grave charges.
The case arose from a complaint filed by Sherpa, the European Centre for Constitutional and Human rights, and 11 former employees in 2017, which alleged Lafarge of financing terrorist groups, endangering the lives of its employees and complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity. Such grave allegations led to a criminal investigation into Lafarge’s operations during the Syrian civil war. The complaint documents how Lafarge allegedly paid millions of euros to various armed groups, including the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), for permission to keep its factory operational during the period of 2012-2015 in the war-ridden Syria.
As per a 2017 internal investigation, it was revealed that the payments were reportedly made to meet the unprecedented challenges to the operations of the Syrian cement plant. It’s important to note that while all non-Syrian managers were evacuated to Egypt in 2012, the Syrian employees were exposed to several life-threatening risks, including kidnappings by the armed groups.
Despite the charges levied against Lafarge maintaining a stronghold, the court dismissed charges concerning the endangerment of its employees’ lives in violation of Article 233-I of the Criminal Code. According to Article 8 (2) and (4) of the Rome I Regulation, which governs The individual employment contracts, the court ruled that the application of French labour law to the Syrian employees was not justified because of Lafarge’s strong involvement in managing its Syrian subsidiary. Therefore, Syrian law would apply in this scenario.
In addition to this, Lafarge pled guilty in a New York federal court in 2022 for conspiring to provide material support to ISIS and ANF between 2013 and 2014. The company confessed to routing nearly six million dollars in illicit payments to these terrorist organizations in a bid to continue the operations of its plant and secure 70.3 million dollars in revenue.
As it stands, Lafarge will continue to face charges of complicity in crimes against humanity, financing a terrorist organization, and violating an embargo with Syria.
This case brings significant attention to the corporate world in terms of corporate social responsibility sphere that extends well beyond the corporate borders. The penalties that Lafarge may face for its alleged abuses raise questions about businesses’ actions in war zones or unstable regions.
Read more about this case on JURIST – News.