Agence France-Presse:General Motors and IBM are among the latest in the firing line after a federal court ruled Wednesday that apartheid victims can sue the corporate giants for aiding the former white South African regime.
Next month Royal Dutch/Shell will be in court, defending itself against charges of complicity in horrific government abuses against Nigeria's Ogoni people, including the 1995 execution of renowned activist Ken Saro-Wiwa.
Other cases include claims from Iraqis against controversial US-based contractors like Blackwater (now known as Xe), accused of aiding and abetting abuses during the conflict in Iraq.
In each instance, victims are taking advantage of a US law known as the Alien Tort Claims Act that requires companies with a substantial presence in the United States to obey US law -- everywhere in the world.
Wednesday, Judge Shira Scheindlin said that the South Africans could pursue claims against Daimler, GM and Ford "for aiding and abetting torture... extrajudicial killing, and apartheid."
"I think it's a landmark decision, extremely significant in the field of corporate responsibility and human rights violations, said Michael Hausfeld, one of the attorneys representing the apartheid victims. "I think it's a landmark decision, extremely significant in the field of corporate responsibility and human rights violations... The court upheld a standard for determining when and under what circumstances a corporation could be held accountable for aiding and abetting a violation of customary international law."
The violations may not have any statute of limitations. "These things don't just expire. In that sense, there's accountability," said Peter Rosenblum, a Columbia University law professor specializing in human rights. "There is a lot going on in the world of corporations in human rights and there is attention to it... They say there's nothing like a law suit to focus the mind."
2 comments:
Aiding apartheid? Seems like this would apply very well to the companies aiding Israel. Oh, but I guess Israel is always the exception, seeing that the actual U.S. government enables it more than a company ever could. We wouldn't want to be hypocritical, would we?
That's an interesting point. I suppose it would be up to someone harmed buy Israeli apartheid to sue. I don't suppose anyone has.
I guess the flaw in this law is that as long as the crime is ongoing, it's not very likely to wind up in court. If someone in China were to sue an American company over human rights abuses in China, it's likely that they'd die -- so no one's going to do it.
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