Alien Tort Statute Resources
The Alien Tort Statute (ATS), adopted in 1789, gives survivors of egregious human rights abuses, wherever committed, the right to sue persons responsible for the abuses in U.S. federal court. Since 1980, the law has been used successfully in cases involving torture (including rape), extrajudicial killing, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and arbitrary detention. The Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA), passed in 1991 and signed into law by President Bush in 1992, gives similar rights to U.S. citizens and non-citizens alike to bring claims for torture and extrajudicial killing committed in foreign countries. The perpetrator generally must be served with the lawsuit while they are present in the United States in order for the court to have jurisdiction.

The first case brought under the ATS for human rights abuses was Filartiga v. Peña-Irala. In 1976, the father of a young man who had been tortured and killed in Paraguay while in police custody saw the police inspector involved in his son's torture and killing walking the streets of Manhattan. The father called the INS, and the INS arrested the police inspector for overstaying his visitor's visa. The father and sister brought a claim against the inspector, and in 1980, the U.S. court in New York upheld their claims, opening the way for other claims using the Alien Tort Statute to be brought.

Read the full text of the ATS
Read the full text of the TVPA
Read a list of precedent setting ATS/TVPA cases


State Department Briefs
The U.S. Department of State and Department of Justice have filed statements and briefs urging U.S. courts to dismiss lawsuits against multinational corporations and foreign officials for their responsibility for serious abuses of human rights.

The U.S. has argued that these cases would interfere with foreign investment and with our foreign relations, and that the centuries-old law under which these suits have been brought does not permit victims to bring human rights claims in U.S. courts. The U.S. position today marks a radical departure from its initial position on human rights lawsuits in U.S. courts. In the landmark 1980 Filartiga case, in which a federal court first recognized that foreign torture could be punished under the Alien Tort Statute, the Department of Justice submitted a legal brief stating that refusing to recognize a private cause of action under the law "might seriously damage the credibility of our nation's commitment to the protection of human rights." The department stated that when the stringent conditions of the law are satisfied, "there is little danger that judicial enforcement will impair our foreign policy efforts."

For a list of State Depatment briefs and statements submitted in recent cases click here.