i am certain will not fail us. i hope that we can bring dollar country back on its feet. i hope that this government will be able to function, at least put an end to that bleeding. and we all come together, one hand to bring back lebanon on its feet, proud and prosperous. i pray to god almighty, to guide our steps forward. then god bless you all. last time i well you've been listening that to prime minister nadia mccarty, speaking about the new formation of 11 years cabinet off to 13 months of deadlock. he's acknowledged just how hard it's been for the lebanese people and really gave a sense of crisis. just how many people have left the country as well as in a, let's speak to our correspondent. she's been listening in as well as in it isn't

a real focus there on getting international health in there's no other way. it's a cash strapped face. the currency, the central bank has run out of foreign currency reserves. you heard the prime minister talk about people savings which are locked. and bank people have not been able to access their accounts for for 2 years now. and if they do withdraw the money from the bank, they withdraw with in the local currency at a very reduced a reduced rate. so people are savings are also worthless. salaries are worthless. people are hoping for the best, the prime minister said we need to stop the bleeding because the economic crisis is deepening every single day. but what this country needs is an economic recovery plan when he talks about reaching out to their brothers and asking for aid. but many people will say, unless they agree on some sort of economic recovery plan to agree to reforms agree to fight corruption. there's a bloated public sector which,

which these politicians have been using really to give jobs to their own support. here, it's all best that needs to soft in order for the country to get back on its feet. so whether or not these politicians are able and willing to do that, and you said that were all lebanese that were all united. but the reality is, this is a deeply divided country, and it's far from being united indeed. and then call the for us on the streets of bay root, the lebanese capital where she's been watching the anger and frustration developed over the last month. thanks so much, dana. well, you been listening to all the latest that from lebanon, where they formed a new cabinet after 13 months of deadlocks. i'll be much more on that here and many more details about that story. as the news continues off, the inside story to stay with us here on out with me

is the funding armed groups to secure his business in syria, french firm la boss could face, we knew charges of lithium crimes against humanity. so what we do, foreign companies play in fooling conflicts, could they be held accountable? this is inside story. ah hello, welcome to the program on hash him, how butler, lethargic, facing one of the most serious accusations laid against the french company over its actions in syria. the paris court of appeal had dismissed crimes against humanity,

chars against the feminine giant in 2019 that routing has just been overturned by francis stop court law. father was accused of paying millions of dollars to fight as including i fail to keep its factory open. the company eventually last year in 2014 after i still see it's planned north, east of po. it has admitted some mistakes, but denies the allegations. i guess it, the court of patients decision does not mean the company will automatically face trial. but it's refer the matter back to investigating magistrates to reconsider the complicity charge, saying one can be complicit in crimes against humanity even if there's no intention of being associated with the crimes committed. it knowingly paying several $1000000.00 for an organization house. so purpose was exclusively criminal,

suffices to consider youth complicity, regardless of whether the posse concerned was acting to pursue a commercial activity. the proceedings against the father are the result of the complained while by the french violence ministry 11 former syrian employees and to en jose, the company had the evacuated it's boring stuff when it left the country, but kept some syrian employees kept the mobile number. we asked the company to stop the work, but they didn't stop the company, birth responsibility for all those were arrested, killed or kidnapped. se mahoney? several bishop my nephew. yes, it worked for the fact that you went from here to good to his work and i see arrested him and put him in jail after 4 months. we went to see i see, and asked about us in the, opened his file and told us, executed him. the fozzy is not the 1st month the national to be accused of similar

accusations. but such cases have rarely been brought to trial. 12 nigerians took energy giant shell to court in the us for its role in right, abusive in the niger delta in the $990.00 s. the supreme court dismissed the case in 2013. thank it. did not have jurisdiction over the matter by screws also challenged companies suspected of concealing crimes against humanity in china, change young region. ah, let's bring in, i guess, in paris we have nothing era get if she's the sierra logistics and professor of the university of paris 8. and believe we have canal, the vita, a legal advisor, the european center for constitutional and human rights. one of the organizations that filed the complaint against le boss in doha,

about one of the land head of policy analysis, the center for research and policy studies. welcome to the program. now sarah, how significant is the bullying that came out in paris from the course above the case of the arch? i would say that it's a breakthrough. it's quite surprising, especially after the court of appeal decision that took place now 2 years ago. and it's a very strong fine and the signal towards those that think that business as you, as usual, can go on, especially on the, on, on war france in all kinds of places where wars are being wages by especially occidental and western countries. so i would say that it's quite striking, especially considering that yesterday was the 1st day of the 9 month long

trial of the people responsible for the attacks on november to 2015 in paris. so it has a very strong symbolic and political arrange canal with this has been a long ride for your organization. but do you think that you have reached a point where you could d, you could say, it's just a matter of time before la font face says the the, the main charge was chief complicity and crimes against humanity. as i would definitely say so, so it's the breakthrough. now we have to see, you know, the appeals courts will, has to rule again on whether it was right in asking the constellation of discharge for crime, for complicity and crimes against humanity. so we will have to see how the new appeals court newly composed will deal with this request from the fashion. we know

that it will do so. bearing in mind the new interpretation of complicity that the supreme court yesterday ruled and which is we can go in detail about that if you want. but once the appeals court will confirm, once again, we'll confirm, sorry, that's the environmental completed gene crimes against humanity has to be maintained based on this new interpretation of complicity. we can hope for a trial not only on discharge of complicity for caps against humanity, but also on the other charges, the financing officers and the prize and benjamin people's lives. matawan, it's been almost like 10 years since the father of the uprising in syria. and many companies have been operating in areas widely accused of colluding with on groups including i feel this ruling does it, but more emphasis now than ever on every international multi national company that

was operating in syria. absolutely. right. i think it should delight it, shed some light to actually this elicit business between international companies and some violent groups and syria. but this particular case is unique in the sense that is dealing with the, with a company that, that has very strong ties to the french government. if you, if you, if we want to put this in to context, maybe we need to speak to bit about how important this project was actually for both products and the city and region. at the time when it was fierce, actually in 2008, a shop. the largest cement factory was the largest single forum investment project in city ever. it cost love us more than $680000000.00.

at the time actually to been one of the largest and most modern summit factory that ensued. but in the middle east, the production of the fact that he was like 7 or $8000.00 tons of cement and d, as words of half a $1000000.00 was a huge investment actually by, by the french. and it was a joint venture between the french and businessmen who were very close to the city of eugene at the time. and because of this, he was in this meant the company actually did that. what actually to be that, that, that the factory or leave it actually to be rooted or be ok this massive by militant so they were actually key in to protect it and to keep it in hopefully ition they don't want to lose or doesn't the money invested at that time in cedar, so that was, this was what did this, this is why it's so unique. ok,

in the case of all of us, the legal team of law fudge is quite obvious. they were trying to scrap the crime against humanity, charge against them by then the routing came out to the tours. another direction which is basically we'll, we'll have to magistrate, we'll have to re investigate the whole case. it could be a breakthrough, as you said earlier, but at the same time you could just open the window for us to bring about a stronger team in the near future and say, you know what, we're not to be held accountable at all. there's absolutely no strong evidence. we've been doing something budget and sylvia. yes, but i think they will have then to argue word by word sentence by sentence about what to the court of cas station just stated. and that makes the case very difficult for them. of course, they can bring to the trial,

very efficient and very savvy groups of lawyers, but they will have to face that at a moment where being the country and the home of defense, which is what france claims to be. i mean, the country of human rights is something that is more and more put into question and lafarge is giving this very strong expression, an example of how human rights were just put aside. and the, this company, this international company that is, has glo size to the french state as a, was just said, just look the other way when it came to defending human rights. so the case is going to be very difficult for them to make whatever their bring in terms of the lawyers and money and influence also, and lobbying probably kind of a fuzzy is a financial goliath in europe. they have huge resources. they have the backing of

a government, but then was one of the key moments of the tribe was when they said, you know, once we had the local stuff operating in. and it is the one which should be held responsible for any mistakes as far as we are concerned, the top ashleigh of the company based in paris. there's absolutely nothing about that we did and how do you see that particular angle? so this argument they made in the judicial inquiry is a very typical recurring argument. multinational make try exonerates from their responsibility. they hide behind their complex structures and they hide behind the fact that they operate through subsidiaries that are abroad. and they pretend that they don't know what is happening in the subsidiaries, that they don't have the powers, the competence or the means to stop the actions of the subsidiaries abroad. windows actions may lead to the commission of crimes alternate fueling of credit crimes.

and this argument, i must say, we have rebuked quite quite easily because the evidence in the file is extremely clear when it comes to payments. i have been made to several arm groups including ices. it is clear that the, the members of parents of the parent company in paris headquarter the parents were not only aware of those payments, but sometimes instructing them to get that was the subsidiary. so there, this argument really doesn't hold any more. and legally, just hoss translators in the decision of appeals courts, which hasn't been put into question by us. sorry, addition. yeah. haven't been put into question by the supreme court, which is that the parent company is indicted for the financing of a terrorist and the price. although the payments had originated from the accounts offered subsidiary abroad, and the court indicted the parent company because he took into accounts the

evidence and the fine showing that they were informed. but it also mentioned, and this is a very strong element of this case. also, the court mentioned that because the foster parent company has such a strong financial and operational control over its subsidiary. it wouldn't make sense legally to say that it cannot be held responsible for payments, criminal payments, pay my district, my $1.00 that is an international coalition against ice. it has its own counter isis finance group. and it has been pretty much trying to work out ways to, to disrupt the financial flows going towards these gross. do you think of this case in particular, could be conducive to a broader investigation where we might see multinational companies being held accountable for shoddy businesses with groups like i said, and other groups that were operating in areas in syria, particularly the north eastern northern part of the country and the south is some part of syria. absolutely. i think this time may be because usually i could

see it in particular because, you know, as you know, shop americans was leading this war in order to undermine the network, the financial network, cost of tourism all over the world. did they usually focus on, on our companies and i mean, did they keep coming, come and go actually the doctor, the conclusion to disrupt and speak with the government plan. don't mind these, these networks. but sometimes you might be surprised to see that some of the big western companies, for example, was very much into the business of financing. and, and also if you want, if you want to look into another aspect of this, this issue, this issue. you can also see the link between the french government and bosh, and y p g. because i mean that the french should have been,

you had been lying very much, but also the going very much in the white by g. c. there was also considered by other countries in the region such as a 3rd organization they were relying on didn't know that the particular boston city . so i think we have to look pretty carefully into ok and to all sort of business activities of these companies. not only in terms of financial, but also in terms of the legs that are having with other non state actors in the region like the wifi. she works on not feel like you spoke about the, the crucial timing of the ruining, because it coincides with the same time with the trial, the main suspect of the rampage that killed 130 people in, in france in 2000. and 15. could this be a moment where the judges the course with say, you know what, it's about time to tackle this because this is a serious issue that could also ultimately have serious ramifications allows itself

. yes, i think that what it brings to the picture is the complexity of what was happening back then. at the beginning of the uprising in syria, the way it was repressed, of course, by the syrian state, the way ices eventually became and prevailed in syria. but this means that they had an ramification all across the region all the way through the mediterranean 2 pairs. and this is also important to, to strike the fact that we cannot think in terms of war and terror. this era that we entered in 2001 and that we are still living in or without including all parts that took advantage of these wars that raise their own

prosperity on these wars. and this is something that might change the backdrop of the trial that is happening right now in pairs and bring into the picture. things that usually are kept aside or that are overlooked or that a lot of states would just want to turn a blind eye on. and this has to be part of the picture. now the complexity and all the interests that to part into what led through the rampaging nurse, but more widely to all these wars and their casualties cannot navigating through the judicial system all over the world is a very complex task, as you know. but do you see an opening here where active is going to say, you know what, it's about time to focus on companies operating in areas where the human rights violations and abuses. we've seen a case now being brought gas companies operating in chines young work of that they're saying basically how can you operate in a base where the,

where the community is been prosecuted by the chinese government. yes. i think really this case has the potential to encourage foster in or ongoing cases on corporate accountability against multinational, but also maybe encourage other people to take initiative like that you were talking about. the org was case there's also a case pending before the international criminal court related to the responsibility of arms traders from different european countries who persist in exporting weapons to sonya ravia and the united arab emirates. although those 2 countries are needing the coalition that appears to have committed systematic attacks on civilians in yemen. so i think now the ruling that the supreme court gave yesterday is really going to inform the way those cases down by the different courts concerned by one. these are companies middleman people working in the and

under ground. some of the not related with huge organizations with governments, we've seen in the past many evidences directing to word very high profile people who were dealing with the syrian government with ice when it comes to shipments of oil. but ultimately, you don't get a sense that the international community is willing to move forward and bring all these people accountable. what's the general sentiment among the syrian people? when you look at this particular case, says that go somehow i'm punished by the international community. while i so i think a fistful, i mean, we need maybe to look at doc, disagree, the picture of the economy that has been actually matching and see over the past 10 years in which as you said, we have so many warlords. we have so many, many men in fact profiting on the expense of those people actually were the

heaviest, like during the war. and i think we to think of how, how a destructive stage we need to we need to, to focus on, on transition of justice. and for those people who work with deadlines actually has been destroyed by this, by this war. and by these also business activities, by, by the warlords, by the middle men, and by the companies, what the name of the sand about how to make this, this war. but at this point of the crisis, most people right now auckland, stand about keeping the peace and try to leash comprehensive cease fire to the conflict and syria. because as you know, over the past few weeks, there has been a renew of tradition in the,

in the south and bottle studio mainly. and we see almost daily bombardment of, of civilian neighborhoods and it live in that. and then so i know most people are focusing on how actually to stop this conflict or start dealing with the other aspects of including transitional justice. and i think people actually get a lot not feel up. you have the ethics and you have the greedy companies looking for profit and both collide most of the time. but do you think that this could be the moment where the momentum should be building 2 words, rewriting the laws internationally to put an end to the practice of these companies . taking advantage of cover from their own governments to take money from people in countries of face distraction and death.

yes, absolutely, but i think that we have them the tools and the means to do that. it's just that so far, this kind of international companies such as the fog and others, just feel that the national and international laws were not made for them, that they could just get away with it and just find ways to bypass any kind of control. and so the decision of the court of guess you is, is the most meaningful in that respect, because it means that they cannot, they're all just as any other entity. and they can fall under the rule and, and the strength of these, of these laws and of these different bodies of, of jurisdiction. and this is something quite striking and might be mighty open new

paths for those entities and international companies that rely on the laws of capitalism. so that they become accountable for to, for the crimes that they take part in can. now, you know that as a legal advisor, that ultimately you would have to deal with companies affiliated with government. they have loads of cash, and they have a cover and they have the backing of strong governments all over the world. you feel like that we have reached the point where n g o z will be more equipped. we'll have more backing, particularly from the people all over the well to put an end to the practice of great companies working in war zones. so we are gathering experiences where gathering expertise on what are the obstacles that are faced in those traditional proceedings. and we surely, i think get better in anticipating those those obstacles. but when it comes to governments and to the fact that governments are also linked sometimes to those

business activities, i think we're seeing this trend. trend in the business and human rights movement more and more. and those cases of corporate accountability usually do not only involve a company, but also sometimes have the support of states. for instance, i was talking about those arms exports cases earlier, their arms exports, arm strangers, are given export licenses by governments. we also know in cases related to, to climate change or to pollution, that's industrial exploitation projects of land also be initiate from licenses to through bank drawings and the land or top. so this is definitely a trend, minute 24 canal love return the good of and model one. and i really appreciate your insight and looking forward to talking to you in the near future and thank you to for watching your can see the program again. any time by visiting our website, al jazeera dot com for further discussion, go to our facebook page. that's facebook dot com, forward slash

a jane sized claudia can also join the conversation on twitter. our hand. it is a j in $540.00 for me. how sure, my brother and the entire team here in doha bye, for now, the news i lose i stay in the house, but the new feeling government to also a formal and unreserved apology to pacific communities for the discriminatory implementation of the immigration laws of the 19th stephen teeth that lead to the events of the dawn, right?

a full moon government apology for past injustices is rare and use the london has to meet strict criteria, including the victims being definable as a distinct court that continues to suffer, connected to those historic events. the often violent don't rage, which the government has now apologized for. so police searching homes, businesses, and even churches looking for overstayed to deport the sense of injustice is still felt today. the leaders in new zealand, polynesian communities, welcome the apology and they hope it will help people of the pacific islands move on. challenges attract, circumstances pushes forward. let us step into uncertainty and experience the happiness of the moment. let us 1st go forth al jazeera comes into national documentary film festival in san diego,

and dawn line from the 10th to the 14th of september 2021, a. j b dog. don't be a ah, holding the powerful to account as we examine the us. this rule in the world on al jazeera. oh no, i'm fully vegetable in dough. how the headlines on our jazeera, i knew lebanese government has been formed after a 13 month deadlock, it will be headed by billionaire businessmen. nigi mccarty, lebanon has been without a functioning government since last year's be able to fort explosion. mccarty comes to power with a country in an economic crisis and know how to help me.