The Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA), which permits victims of international human rights abuses to sue in U.S. courts, is now under attack from organizations representing powerful multinational companies. In recent years, victims have sued multinational corporations for complicity in human rights violations, including torture, extrajudicial killing, forced labor, and genocide. Believing that such companies should be immune from suit, the National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) are seeking to repeal or sharply limit the law.

Human rights organizations, religious groups, environment NGOs, and labor unions are defending ATCA as a critical instrument for upholding the basic standards of international law. These cases should be decided on their individual merits, not by repealing a law that was passed in 1789 by the First Congress.

The first ATCA human rights claims were brought against foreign government officials. Several of recent history’s most oppressive dictators have been held accountable. Ferdinand Marcos, a former dictator of the Philippines, and Radovan Karadzic, an ex-leader of the former Bosnian-Serb Republic, were both held civilly accountable under the law for the widespread human rights abuses they caused. In cases involving international criminals such as Marcos and Karadzic, the ATCA may be the only potential means for victims to find redress for terrible human rights abuses committed against them.

ATCA and Corporate Accountability

More recently, victims have filed suit against corporations that have been complicit in egregious abuses. For example, in Doe v. Unocal, Burmese villagers sued the California-based energy giant for its direct complicity in abuses committed by the notorious Burmese military, Unocal’s partner in a natural gas pipeline joint venture. In September of 2002, a federal appeals court held that the plaintiffs had presented evidence that Unocal knowingly provided substantial assistance to the military in its commission of forced labor, murder and rape, while the military secured the project and built project infrastructure. Accordingly, the court held that Unocal could be held liable for aiding and abetting the military’s abuses.

In a similar ATCA case, The Presbyterian Church of Sudan v. Talisman Energy, villagers and the Church are suing Talisman for its participation in the Sudanese Government's ethnic cleansing of Christian and other non-Muslim minorities in southern Sudan. Talisman aided and abetted the Government’s military assaults on minority villages in order to help the Government clear the way for Talisman’s oil exploration. A Government communiqué, issued on May 7, 1999, reported that "… fulfilling the request of the Canadian Company (Talisman)… the armed forces will conduct cleaning up operations in all villages from Heglig to Pariang." Two days later, these villages were destroyed.

ERI has filed a number of amicus briefs in relevant ATCA cases

Despite the egregious facts of these cases, the NFTC has announced that it will lobby Congress to have ATCA weakened to ensure that companies cannot be held liable. USA-Engage, a sister organization to the NFTC, “has established a working group to provide support for companies that have been sued [under ATCA] and to explore remedies to the abuse of the law.” NFTC lobbyists have met with some Members of Congress on November 18th. It is no coincidence that NFTC includes some of the companies now being sued.

The NFTC’s claims that ATCA is subject to “abuse” are unfounded. Courts have thrown out several ATCA cases against multinational corporations, and none have yet resulted in a judgment against a multinational corporation. The NFTC therefore has no basis to assert that the federal judiciary has treated multinational corporations unfairly.

The Attack on ATCA

ATCA means an end to corporate impunity for brutal human rights abuses- and that's exactly why corporations don't like it.

The law is now under attack by organizations representing some of the world's most powerful corporations. The National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) and other major business lobby groups are seeking to repeal or sharply limit the law.

They hope to shield corporations from anything that would require them to abide by international human rights standards. It is no coincidence that NFTC member companies include some of those now being sued. These companies preach "responsibility" while working behind the scenes to take away a significant disincentive to irresponsible behavior.

Attacking ATCA is an effort to avoid liability and constitutes little more than thinly veiled self-interest.