Torture Victim Protection

Alien Tort Claims, Torture Victim Protection in 2011

United States views on international law (based on the document “Digest of U.S. Practice in International Law”): The Alien Tort Claims Act (“ATCA”), also referred to as the Alien Tort Statute (“ATS”), was enacted as part of the First Judiciary Act in 1789 and is now codified at 28 U.S.C. § 1350. It provides that U.S. federal district courts “shall have original jurisdiction of any civil action by an alien for tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States.” The statute was rarely invoked until Filartiga v. Pena-Irala, 630 F.2d 876 (2d Cir. 1980); following Filartiga, the statute has been interpreted by the federal courts in cases raising human rights claims under international law. In 2004 the Supreme Court held that the ATCA is “in terms only jurisdictional” but that, in enacting the ATCA in 1789, Congress intended to “enable[] federal courts to hear claims in a very limited category defined by the law of nations and recognized at common law.” Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain, 542 U.S. 692 (2004). By its terms, this statutory basis for suit is available only to aliens. In an amicus curiae memorandum filed in the Second Circuit in Filartiga v. Pena-Irala, the United States described the ATCA as one avenue through which “an individual's fundamental human rights [can be] in certain situations directly enforceable in domestic courts.” Memorandum for the United States as Amicus Curiae at 21, Filartiga v. Pena-Irala, 630 F.2d. 876 (2d Cir. 1980) (No. 79-6090).

Developments

The Torture Victim Protection Act (“TVPA”), which was enacted in 1992, Pub. L. No. 102-256, 106 Stat. 73, appears as a note to 28 U.S.C. § 1350. It provides a cause of action in federal courts against “[a]n individual . . . [acting] under actual or apparent authority, or color of law, of any foreign nation” for individuals, including U.S. nationals, who are victims of official torture or extrajudicial killing. The TVPA contains an exhaustion requirement and a ten-year statute of limitations.

The following entries discuss 2011 developments in a selection of cases brought under the ATCA and the TVPA. The first entry (Kiobel) covers developments in a case in which the United States participated in 2011. The second two entries cover developments in cases in which the United States participated previously but did not take part in proceedings in 2011.

Alien Tort Claims Act and Torture Victim Protection Act

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Foreign Relations

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Extraterritorial Reach of ATS: Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co.

Note: there is detailed information and resources under these topics during the year 2013, covered by this entry on alien tort claims act and torture victim protection act in this law Encyclopedia.

Resources

See Also

• Foreign Relations
• Alien Tort Claims
• Torture Victim Protection