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

TVPRA Claims Against Neil Gaiman

By William S. Dodge

February 19, 2025 posted in: Human Rights Litigation

Claims brought under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) don’t often make headlines. But those filed on February 3, 2025 against British author Neil Gaiman and his American wife Amanda Palmer (who are divorcing) are an exception. Scarlett Pavlovich, who worked for three weeks as a live-in nanny for the couple, alleges that Gaiman…

First Circuit Argument Weighs Constitutionality of TVPA

By Maggie Gardner

February 18, 2025 posted in: Human Rights Litigation

Last month, the First Circuit (Judge Lara Montecalvo, presiding, with retired Justice Stephen Breyer and Senior Judge Sandra Lynch) heard oral argument in Boniface v. Viliena. Viliena, a Haitian national who has been a legal permanent resident of the United States since 2008, is challenging a $15.5 million jury award under the Torture Victim Protection…

Business and Human Rights Litigation

By William S. Dodge

February 6, 2025 posted in: Human Rights Litigation

On January 22-24, 2025, the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights at Mansfield College, Oxford, hosted a roundtable on business and human rights litigation. The roundtable discussed draft chapters for the Cambridge Handbook on Business and Human Rights Litigation, edited by Hassan Ahmad, Ekaterina Aristova, and Rachel Chambers, which is slated for publication next year. The…

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)