ATCA litigation – International Justice Resource Center

U.S. Supreme Court Limits Corporate Liability for Human Rights Abuses

May 1, 2018 IJRC ATCA litigation, civil litigation, corporate accountability, domestic courts, U.S. courts, universal jurisdiction

On April 24, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Jesner v. Arab Bank that foreign citizens cannot sue foreign corporations for civil damages in U.S. federal courts for serious violations of international law, such as torture or extrajudicial killings. See Jesner et al. v. Arab Bank, PLC, No. 16–499, slip op. (April 24, 2018). The case was brought against

News Clips- August 19, 2016

August 19, 2016 IJRC African System, armed conflict, assembly and association, ATCA litigation, children, civil litigation, civil society, conditions of detention, corporate accountability, crime & impunity, democracy & political rights, discrimination, domestic courts, economic, social & cultural rights, environmental rights, extrajudicial executions, human rights defenders, immigration & asylum, indigenous communities, Inter-American System, international human rights, liberty & security of person, migrants, military and humanitarian intervention, News Clips, persons with disabilities, regional human rights protection, right to life, thought, expression & association, U.S. courts, UN Special Procedures, UN treaty bodies, Universal system

Civil Society Ahead of a constitutional referendum scheduled for September, Azerbaijani authorities have arrested several activists critical of the government within the last week. [RSF] In order to make room for civil society members arrested after the coup, Turkey announced that it will release inmates convicted of nonviolent offenses from its prisons. [NYT] Following the recent re-election of Zambia’s president,

Blackwater Successor Settles Two Wrongful Death Cases by Civilians and Contractors Killed in Iraq

January 8, 2012 IJRC ATCA litigation, corporate accountability, international criminal law, military and humanitarian intervention, U.S. courts

Family members of Iraqi civilians killed by Blackwater security contractors in Baghdad’s Nisoor Square in 2007 have agreed to a settlement offered by Academi, Blackwater’s successor (also recently known as Xe Services). [Washington Post] On September 16, 2007, Blackwater employees guarding U.S. diplomats opened fire into a crowd, killing seventeen Iraqi civilians in what was alleged by prosecutors to be

Two Suits Against Corporations for Violations of International Law Proceed in U.S. Federal Court

May 23, 2011 IJRC ATCA litigation, corporate accountability, U.S. courts

Eleven Falun Gong practitioners have filed suit against computer networking company Cisco Systems for allegedly facilitating human rights abuses by the Chinese government against Falun Gong members, by developing and providing Internet surveillance technology known as Golden Shield or Policenet. [Wall Street Pit] The suit, filed by the Human Rights Law Foundation in the U.S. District Court for the Northern

U.S. Court Rules Corporations Cannot be Held Civilly Liable for Torture and Other Violations of International Law under ATCA

September 20, 2010 IJRC ATCA litigation, corporate accountability, environmental rights, U.S. courts

Last Friday’s Second Circuit ruling in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum, if upheld, could be the death knell for litigation seeking to hold corporations accountable for torture and other violations of customary international law under the Alien Tort Claims Act. The plaintiffs, Nigerian nationals, brought suit against Royal Dutch and Shell Petroleum for aiding and abetting the Nigerian government in

News Clips – September 20, 2010

September 20, 2010 IJRC ATCA litigation, crime & impunity, discrimination, due process & judicial protection, environmental rights, immigration & asylum, Inter-American System, massacres, security & rule of law, thought, expression & association, U.S. courts, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, UN Special Procedures

In a heartbreaking blow to Afghan hopes for peace, several U.S. soldiers are under investigation for murdering at least three Afghan civilians last year as part of a rogue “kill team” that was allegedly formed when a staff sergeant who had served in Iraq in 2004 joined the platoon stationed in Kandahar province. [Washington Post] The French Senate has approved

News Clips – through Sept. 14, 2010

September 14, 2010 IJRC ATCA litigation, crime & impunity, democracy & political rights, discrimination, domestic courts, due process & judicial protection, economic, social & cultural rights, ICJ, ICTR, immigration & asylum, Inter-American System, interim measures, International Criminal Court, internationalized criminal tribunals, liberty & security of person, massacres, security & rule of law, thought, expression & association, torture, UN Special Procedures, Universal system

Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Syria welcomes its first visit from a UN special rapporteur, the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, in a showing of increased participation with the UN Human Rights Council’s monitoring mechanisms, including its upcoming Universal Periodic Review. [The National; OHCHR] The Special Rapporteur estimates that 2 to 3 million people face food insecurity in

Ninth Circuit Dismisses Rendition Lawsuit against Boeing Subsidiary, Granting Government’s Invocation of State Secrets Privilege

September 11, 2010 IJRC ATCA litigation, due process & judicial protection, torture, U.S. courts

On September 8, an en banc panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit dismissed a civil suit filed under the Alien Tort Claims Act by five extraordinary rendition victims against a Boeing subsidiary, Jeppesen DataPlan, Inc. for its role in their rendition. [Amnesty International USA ; ACLU] The federal government intervened in the suit, arguing that

News Clips – June 1, 2010

June 1, 2010 IJRC ATCA litigation, crime & impunity, democracy & political rights, enforced disappearance, environmental rights, European System, indigenous communities, Inter-American System, interim measures, thought, expression & association, transitional justice, U.S. courts, Universal system

Protocol 14 to the European Convention on Human Rights enters into force today, introducing a number of changes to decrease the Court’s backlog, strengthen enforcement in order to reduce repetitive applications, concentrate its efforts on cases where applicants have suffered a “significant disadvantage”, and allow the European Commissioner for Human Rights to intervene as a third party [ECHR] Amnesty International

Karadzic Trial Resumes at ICTY

March 3, 2010 IJRC ATCA litigation, ICTY

The trial of Radovan Karadzic for acts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes resumed yesterday before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, in The Hague. The trial, which first began in October 2009, was suspended when Karadzic refused to participate. See the ICTY’s fact sheet on the trial here. Karadzic had previously been sued in the