In the age of globalisation, corporate responsibility can be a highly contentious issue. On the one hand, corporations can create job opportunities, increase gross domestic product and overall quality of life in countries where they are officially incorporated. On the other hand, extraction of natural resources from developing countries often contributes to destabilisation of the official governmental structure and gross violations of Human Rights. The positive impacts of corporate activity in one state make corporate criminal responsibility in another state a politically sensitive issue.

For decades the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been wracked by an intractable conflict which has displaced hundreds of thousands, resulted in numerous human rights atrocities, and launched the largest and most expensive peacekeeping mission in UN history