Purpose: This article examines the prospects and legal barriers to using the Malabo Protocol as a regional mechanism for prosecuting corporate transnational environmental crimes in Africa. Research Methodology: The study applies a qualitative doctrinal and documentary research design, examining African Union legal instruments, African human rights jurisprudence, comparative European criminal law developments, and peer reviewed legal scholarship published mainly between 2021 and 2026, analyzed thematically around jurisdiction, corporate attribution, environmental offenses, evidence, cross border cooperation, and remedies. Results: The findings show that Article 46C of the Malabo Protocol represents a significant innovation because it extends criminal jurisdiction to legal persons and permits corporate intention and knowledge to be established through organizational rather than purely individualized proof. However, the Protocol's effectiveness remains constrained by non operational status, limited ratification, the absence of an express ecocide offense, unresolved parent subsidiary attribution questions, and weak cross border investigative cooperation. Conclusions: A functioning regional corporate accountability framework requires ratification, domestic implementation, clearer environmental crime definitions, specialized investigative cooperation, and stronger victim remedy mechanisms operating alongside existing human rights jurisprudence. Limitations: The analysis relies on doctrinal and documentary sources rather than empirical enforcement data. Contributions: The article extends corporate organizational responsibility theory and environmental justice scholarship into an underexamined African regional criminal law context and proposes an integrated operational model connecting national and regional accountability institutions.
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