Human Rights Litigation

Victims of human rights violations sometimes bring claims in U.S. courts, including claims based on violations outside the United States. The U.S. Supreme Court has recognized a limited cause of action for human rights claims under the Alien Tort Statute. Congress has also enacted statutory causes of action such as the Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA) and the Trafficking Victim Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA). Human rights claims against individuals often raise questions of foreign official immunity.

A Primer on Human Rights Litigation

By William S. Dodge

June 22, 2022 posted in: Human Rights Litigation

Modern human rights law developed in response to the events of the World War II, although it has earlier precursors. In 1948, the U.N. General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a non-binding declaration. More than seventy human rights treaties followed, including the Genocide Convention, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,…

Recent Posts

Court Rejects Trump Administration’s Immunity Statement in UNRWA Case

By Ingrid (Wuerth) Brunk

October 9, 2025 posted in: Foreign Official Immunity

A federal court has rejected the Trump administration statement of interest regarding the immunity of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). In the Estate of Tamar Kedem Simon Tov et al. v. United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) et al. (SDNY), foreign nationals allege that UNRWA and individual defendants knowingly aided and…

Florida Judge Sets Aside Historic Helms-Burton Verdict

By Ingrid (Wuerth) Brunk

October 2, 2025 posted in: Human Rights Litigation

More big news in the hot new topic in transnational litigation: the Helms-Burton Act. A Florida district court has set aside the historic $120 million jury verdict awarded to a Cuban-American plaintiff against hotel booking services. The judge held that the plaintiffs offered insufficient evidence that the defendants had “knowingly” “traffic[ked]” in confiscated property. Background…

First Circuit Remands Constitutionality of the TVPA to District Court

By William S. Dodge

August 13, 2025 posted in: Human Rights Litigation

In Boniface v. Viliena, a Massachusetts jury found a former Haitian mayor liable under the Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA) for extrajudicial killing, attempted extrajudicial killing, and torture, awarding the three plaintiffs $15.5 million in compensatory and punitive damages. On appeal to the First Circuit, the defendant’s principal arguments were (1) that the TVPA does…

Alien Tort Statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1350

Torture Victim Protection Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1350 (note)

Trafficking Victim Protection Reauthorization Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1595

Nestle USA, Inc. v. Doe (2021)

Jesner v. Arab Bank, PLC (2018)

Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co. (2013)

Mohamad v. Palestinian Auth. (2012)

Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain (2004)

Oona A. Hathaway, Christopher Ewell & Ellen Nohle, Has the Alien Tort Statute Made a Difference? A Historical, Empirical, and Normative Assessment, 107 Cornell L. Rev. (forthcoming 2022) (SSRN)

Pierre-Hugues Verdier & Paul B. Stephan, International Human Rights and Multinational Corporations: An FCPA Approach, 101 B.U. L. Rev. 1359 (2021) (SSRN)

Sara Sun Beale, The Trafficking Victim Protection Act: The Best Hope for International Human Rights Litigation in U.S. Courts?, 50 Case W. Res. J. Int’l L. 17 (2018) (Duke)

David Nersessian, International Human Rights Litigation: A Guide for Judges (Federal Judicial Center, 2016) (FJC)

William S. Dodge, Alien Tort Litigation: The Road Not Taken, 89 Notre Dame L. Rev. 1577 (2014) (SSRN)

Thomas H. Lee, The Three Lives of the Alien Tort Statute: The Evolving Role of the Judiciary in U.S. Foreign Relations, 89 Notre Dame L. Rev. 1645 (2014) (SSRN)

Beth Stephens, The Curious History of the Alien Tort Statute, 89 Notre Dame L. Rev. 1467 (2014) (SSRN)

Paul Hoffman & Beth Stephens, International Human Rights Cases Under State Law and in State Courts, 3 UC Irvine L. Rev. 9 (2013) (SSRN)

Anthony J. Bellia, Jr. & Bradford R. Clark, The Alien Tort Statute and the Law of Nations, 78 U. Chi. L. Rev. 445 (2011) (SSRN)

Chimène I. Keitner, Conceptualizing Complicity in Alien Tort Cases, 60 Hastings L.J. 61 (2008) (SSRN)

Curtis A. Bradley, Jack L. Goldsmith & David H. Moore, Sosa, Customary International Law, and the Continuing Relevance of Erie, 120 Harv. L. Rev. 869 (2007) (Duke)

Thomas H. Lee, The Safe-Conduct Theory of the Alien Tort Statute, 106 Colum. L. Rev. 830 (2006) (SSRN)

Beth Stephens, Translating Filártiga: A Comparative and International Law Analysis of Domestic Remedies for International Human Rights Violations, 27 Yale J. Intl. L. 1 (2002) (SSRN)

Curtis A. Bradley & Jack L. Goldsmith, III, The Current Illegitimacy of International Human Rights Litigation, 66 Fordham L. Rev. 319 (1997) (Fordham)

William S. Dodge, The Historical Origins of the Alien Tort Statute: A Response to the "Originalists", 19 Hastings Int’l & Comp. L. Rev. 221 (1996) (SSRN)