Accountability for international crimes must extend beyond those who commit atrocities on the ground to include those who finance or profit from them. Addressing this issue is critical to ensuring justice for victims, securing reparations, and deterring future complicity in such crimes.
Truth Hounds is pleased to share the findings of the recently published report, “War Funders and Profiteers: Economic Complicity in International Crimes in Ukraine and Beyond,” co-authored by Dmytro Koval (Truth Hounds), Anton Moiseienko, Emily Bell, and Matthew Neuhaus. This comprehensive study definitively shows that economic actors play a significant but underexplored role in enabling or benefiting from international crimes. Economic complicity exacerbates conflicts and undermines justice, whether it’s funding private military companies or profiting from looted resources.
Key Findings:
- International criminal law is clearly lacking robust mechanisms to address economic complicity in war crimes.
- There is an urgent need for integrated approaches combining international criminal justice with domestic anti-money laundering (AML) and sanctions frameworks.
- Legal reforms at both domestic and international levels are essential to hold economic actors accountable.
Prosecuting war funders and profiteers is of the utmost importance. These actors enable the commission of international crimes, either directly by providing the resources for it or indirectly by creating a political and economic environment where international crimes become a money-making opportunity.
“While atrocity crimes are usually associated with those who directly commit or order the commission of international crimes, there is often the whole plethora of actors who contribute to the logistics of the crime of benefit from them. Where existing international or domestic law allows, these less apparent actors should also receive their share of accountability,”
says Dmytro Koval, an Associate Professor of Law at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in Ukraine and Co-Executive Director at Truth Hounds.
This report makes a strong case for the rigorous and robust application of international criminal law to those economically complicit in international crimes—the unscrupulous war funders and profiteers who deliberately gain from or exploit the suffering of others. This report presents a new approach to increasing accountability in international law and expanding the reach of international justice to include those who profit from international crimes. It draws on domestic and international cases to provide a solid legal foundation for its crucial recommendations.
Authors: Anton Moiseienko, Emily Bell, Matthew Neuhaus (ANU)
& Dmytro Koval (Kyiv-Mohyla Academy)
We invite you to get aquainted with the full report War Funders and Profiteers: Economic Complicity in International Crimes in Ukraine and Beyond or read the report’s conclusions and recommendations.