Unshackling Foreign Corporations: Kiobel’s Unexpected Legacy

2013 ◽  
Vol 107 (4) ◽  
pp. 829-834 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anupam Chander
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
The United States ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Foreign Corporations ◽  
Alien Tort Statute

The Supreme Court’s ruling in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co. disfavors American corporations. While largely unshackling foreign corporations from the risk of being haled before an American court to answer for human rights abuses abroad, the decision keeps American corporations constrained by human rights law. This inconsistency exists because application of the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), as announced in Kiobel, turns on whether a corporation’s actions “touch and concern” the United States. American corporations are simply far more likely to satisfy that standard than foreign corporations.

Reviving Human Rights Litigation After Kiobel

2013 ◽  
Vol 107 (4) ◽  
pp. 858-863 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vivian Grosswald Curran ◽  
David Sloss
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
The United States ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Foreign Countries ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
Death Knell ◽  
Alien Tort Statute

In Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co., the Supreme Court held that “the presumption against extraterritoriality applies to claims under the [Alien Tort Statute (ATS)], and that nothing in the statute rebuts that presumption.” The Court preserved the possibility that claims arising from conduct outside the United States might be actionable under the ATS “where the claims touch and concern the territory of the United States ... with sufficient force to displace the presumption against extraterritorial application.” However, the Court’s decision apparently sounds the death knell for “foreign-cubed” human rights claims under the ATS—that is, cases in which foreign defendants committed human rights abuses against foreign plaintiffs in foreign countries.

scholarly journals The Tradition of Civil Litigation in a New Age of International Law: International Perspectives on the Domestic Enforcement of Human Rights

2017 ◽  
pp. 55
Author(s):  
Phillip Wardle
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
The United States ◽  
Civil Litigation ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
International Perspectives ◽  
Alternative Means

<p>The enforcement of norms of international human rights law (‘IHRL’) and the provision of an effective and appropriate remedy for those who have had human rights abuses visited upon them represents one of the greatest contemporary challenges within international and domestic legal systems. In recent years a regime of domestic civil liability has emerged, largely within the United States, as an alternative means to enforce IHRL against offending individuals, governments and organisations. A particular feature of this regime has been the attribution of liability to non-state actors for human rights abuses. This article will examine these developments and chart the various advantages and disadvantages that civil litigation mechanisms represent for the enforcement of IHRL and victims of human rights abuses. The utility of this regime to remedy breaches of IHRL during and as a result of crisis situations and armed conflict will also be discussed. While focussing chiefly on the United States as the main source of domestic IHRL litigation jurisprudence, other systems of civil dispute resolution will also be examined.</p><p><strong>Published online</strong>: 11 December 2017</p>

Part IX International Environmental Law in National/Regional Courts, Ch.65 North America

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Affolder Natasha
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
North America ◽  
International Law ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
The United States ◽  
Private International Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Environmental Law ◽  
Indigenous Law

This chapter assesses international environmental law in the courts of North America. In particular, it explores the minimal engagement of US, Canadian, and Mexican courts with international environmental law. Environmental law cases in Canada, Mexico, and the United States are not immune to international law and international norms. However, international environmental lawyers may be forced to look to some unlikely and unusual places to find international environmental law's normative influence. Environmental law cases in North America seem poised to engage most significantly with international law not in the ‘bright lights’ but rather on the side-lines, where environmental law norms interface with climate law, private international law, Indigenous law, and human rights law.

Short v. Kingdom of the Netherlands

1991 ◽  
Vol 85 (4) ◽  
pp. 698-702 ◽  
Author(s):  
John E. Parkerson ◽  
Steven J. Lepper
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
The United States ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
United States Military ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Military Justice ◽  
European Court ◽  
Significant Addition

In the Notes and Comments section of the January 1991 issue of the Journal, Professor Richard Lillich presented a thorough and timely analysis of the Soering decision of the European Court of Human Rights, a significant addition to international human rights law. His evaluation of the Soering judgment and his reflections on several of its wider ramifications are especially relevant to the United States military, for the decision constitutes a serious threat to the administration of U.S. military justice overseas and to the treaty relationships between the United States and its NATO allies. A recent European case, Short v. Kingdom of the Netherlands, demonstrates that this threat is far from hypothetical.

Asylum at Sea: The Legality of Shipboard Refugee Status Determination Procedures

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Azadeh Dastyari ◽  
Daniel Ghezelbash
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
The United States ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Refugee Status ◽  
State Practice ◽  
International Obligations

Abstract Austria and Italy have recently proposed that processing the protection claims of asylum seekers attempting to cross the Mediterranean should take place aboard government vessels at sea. Shipboard processing of asylum claims is not a novel idea. The policy has been used for many years by the governments of the United States and Australia. This article examines the relevant international law, as well as State practice and domestic jurisprudence in the United States and Australia, to explore whether shipboard processing complies with international refugee and human rights law. It concludes that, while it may be theoretically possible for shipboard processing to comply with international law, there are significant practical impediments to carrying out shipboard processing in a manner that is compliant with the international obligations of States. Current practices in the United States and Australia fall short of what is required. Nor is there any indication that the Austrian/Italian proposal would contain the required safeguards. It is argued that this is by design. The appeal of shipboard processing for governments is that it allows them to dispense with the safeguards that asylum seekers would be entitled to if processed on land. Best practice is for all persons interdicted or rescued at sea to be transferred to a location on land where they have access to effective status determination procedures and are protected from refoulement and unlawful detention.

scholarly journals U.S. Race Relations and Foreign Policy

2021 ◽  
pp. 77
Author(s):  
Susan Page
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Race Relations ◽  
The United States ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Call To Action ◽  
The United Nations

It is easy for Americans to think that the world’s most egregious human rights abuses happen in other countries. In reality, our history is plagued by injustices, and our present reality is still stained by racism and inequality. While the Michigan Journal of International Law usually publishes only pieces with a global focus, we felt it prudent in these critically important times not to shy away from the problems facing our own country. We must understand our own history before we can strive to form a better union, whether the union be the United States or the United Nations. Ambassador Susan Page is an American diplomat who has faced human rights crises both at home and abroad. We found her following call to action inspiring. We hope you do too.

scholarly journals Resettlement and Processing of Haitian Refugees

Refuge ◽  
2003 ◽  
pp. 63-65
Author(s):  
Wendy Young
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Political Violence ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Partial Solution ◽  
The United States ◽  
Caribbean Region ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
The Caribbean

Political violence and human rights abuses are escalating in Haiti, as the country’s nascent democracy deteriorates. Already, the United States and countries in the Caribbean region are developing and implementing policies designed to deter and prevent the arrival of Haitian asylum seekers, despite the fact that the flow of asylum seekers has not yet significantly increased from past years. This paper raises concerns about the failure of the United States to offer protection to Haitian refugees and proposes the implementation of a resettlement program as a partial solution to this systemic failure. The paper endorses the concept of in-country processing of Haitian refugees if done with significant safeguards to prevent further abuses against such applicants.

scholarly journals George Floyd’s Murder

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-66
Author(s):  
Farnaz Raees Kazemi ◽  
Moosa Akefi Ghaziani
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Racial Discrimination ◽  
The United States ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Political Agitation ◽  
International Human ◽  
The Government

George Floyd’s murder by the police in Minneapolis provoked widespread political agitation across the country. It once again highlighted the problematic racial dimension of policing and eggregious violation of human rights commitments on the part of the government. In this article we explore how the human rights law and racism in the United States interact with each other? We employ qualitative research based on descriptive-analytical method and divide the article in four parts: a brief introduction, a historical background of racism, a conceptual comprehension of racial discrimination and a brief survey of the international human rights instruments against racism, and the onground situation of racial discrimination in the country. We conclude that the process of negotiation between human rights law and racism in the United States is far from settled yet.

US aims to check Russia in Central Asia 'Great Game'

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
The United States ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Secretary Of State ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Great Game ◽  
Public Criticism

Subject US relations with Central Asia. Significance US Secretary of State John Kerry visited Central Asia in early November, in an effort to boost Washington's influence in a region that is increasingly dominated by Russia and also China. Central Asian states worry that the region has declined in importance for the United States, owing to Washington's overall drawdown of forces in Afghanistan. Impacts Over-reliance on remittances will pose major risk to Central Asian economies. Central Asian states will continue to try and extract concessions from United States, Russia and China. Washington will diminish its public criticism of human rights abuses in Central Asia but maintain pressure in private.

Post-Manila US pivot may be coming to South-east Asia

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
East Asian ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
South East Asia ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Security Issues ◽  
Philippine Government

Significance US policymakers feel there is sufficient support for the United States elsewhere in the Philippine government and population to erode Duterte's threats to unravel the alliance. Nonetheless, Washington is considering alternative South-east Asian partners. Impacts Japan's role as an interlocutor between Manila and Washington on security issues could grow. Duterte might meet outgoing President Barack Obama in Peru at the November 19-20 APEC meeting. However, should this occur, it is unlikely to improve Philippine-US ties much if at all. Rumours of human rights abuses in the Philippines will anger US members of Congress, further deteriorating ties.

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