SCOTUS: Courthouse Doors Closed to Foreign Nationals Alleging Corporate Human Rights Abuses –By Nicole Flatow |ThinkProgress

What started out as a case about whether corporations could be held accountable in U.S. courts for human rights abuses against foreigners abroad turned into a case about whether anyone can be held accountable. And on Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the answer is, mostly, no.

In a sweeping holding, Chief Justice John Roberts led a splintered court in ruling that several Nigerians alleging an oil company aided an abetted torture, arbitrary killings, and indefinite detention could not sue, because the corporate conduct occurred outside the United States. Roberts reasoned that what is known as the “presumption against extraterritoriality” applies to a 200-year-old statute that authorizes civil lawsuits by “aliens” for “violations of the law of nations,” meaning courts should err against enforcing a law intended to punish egregious foreign conduct in the frequent instances when that conduct takes place in a foreign country.

“[T]here is no indication that the ATS was passed to make the United States a uniquely hospitable forum for the enforcement of international norms,” Justice Roberts wrote for the majority in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum.

Roberts’ conclusion is rebutted by the very conduct the Alien Tort Statute was designed to prevent. Piracy was one of the primary torts targeted by Congress at the time of ATS’ passage – conduct that inherently takes place on the high seas. Justice Stephen Breyer explains in a four-justice concurring opinion that would decide the case on significantly narrower grounds:

As I have indicated, we should treat this Nation’s interest in not becoming a safe harbor for violators of the most fundamental international norms as an important jurisdiction related interest justifying application of the ATS in light of the statute’s basic purposes—in particular that of compensating those who have suffered harm at the hands of, e.g., torturers or other modern pirates. Nothing in the statute or its history suggests that our courts should turn a blind eye to the plight of victims in that “handful of heinous actions.

Now, that handful of heinous actions will have to find remedy elsewhere. This decision not only means that Nigerians cannot sue foreign corporations for their conduct abroad. On this particular point, the four-justice Breyer concurrence agreed that this case did not pass muster. Roberts’ sweeping pronouncement against extraterritoriality may also mean that foreign nationals subject to abuse, for example, at the hands of a U.S. corporation that houses its factories in places whose laws shield it from liability, or an American citizen who commits human rights violations abroad against foreigners, also could not be subject to suit in the United States.

In two recent federal appeals court decisions, lawsuits that challenged torture abroad by two foreign actors were allowed to proceed in U.S. courts because the defendants had lived or were living in the United States. As Justice Breyer points out, Congress is aware that the ATS is the basis for these sorts of lawsuits, and has not sought to amend the act in any way – likely because they recognize that the act was intended to target foreign conduct that is otherwise difficult to reach. But that did not stop the Roberts majority from inferring the narrowest possible congressional intent.

The scope of the opinion will not become clear until it is interpreted by courts. Extraterritoriality is a legal concept that asks not just whether conduct took place abroad, but also whether the claims “touch and concern the territory of the United States” such that a plaintiff can overcome the presumption against them. The only hint the court gives is that lawsuits against corporations will face a particularly heavy burden, noting, “Corporations are often present in many countries, and it would reach too far to say that mere corporate presence suffices.”

What is clear is that the presumption is exceedingly difficult to overcome, and that both individuals and corporations have a high chance of skirting liability simply by doing their dirty work elsewhere.

Reprint: High Court Squelches Ability to Hold Anyone Accountable for Any Human Rights Violations Abroad  – By Nicole Flatow |ThinkProgress

Related: Kiobel v. Shell Test Corporate Personhood –By Katie Redford | HuffPost

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My Two Cents: All the justices agreed the statute was inapplicable to the case at bar but for different reasons. In doing so, the SCOTUS served a major blow to human rights organizations that have used the statute, at least in recent times, to hold multinational corporations (MNCs) accountable for human rights violations committed against foreign nationals in their country of origin. Justice Roberts could have dismissed the case on a number of procedural grounds or simply deferred the case back to the lower court. Instead the majority used the case to redefine the ATS so narrowly as to render it useless. Why, I ask, was necessary to throw out the baby with the bath water? In my opinion, this case was not about policing the world or opening American courts to every frivolous claim of abuse on the planet.  This case was about a MNC, with significant ties to the U.S., allegedly committing gross human rights on foreign soil against U.S. foreign nationals.  MNCs are now free to set up shop in a foreign country, collude with host countries’ government for precious resources and land rights, pollute the soil and water, poison the air and have those who protest too much (or too loudly) summarily disappeared or executed w/o fear of being sued or held accountable in any meaningful way!

Silver lining: The SCOTUS left open the possibility that it might review other cases that are filed under the statute so long as the new elements and jurisdictional prerequisites are met.

 

Massive Oil Slick in Nigeria Largest in Decades, Threatens Coastline | Democracy Now!

DemocracyNow.org – Communities along Nigeria’s Niger Delta have been put on alert following a major oil spill from the oil giant, Shell. The massive oil slick is making its way to the Nigerian coast, threatening local wildlife and massive pollution along the shore. Much of the available information about the spill comes from the company responsible for it, Royal Dutch Shell, which says less than 40,000 barrels have leaked so far. But Nigeria’s National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency says the spill could be three times as large. It comes just four months after the United Nations said it would take 30 years and around $1 billion for a small section of the delta to recover from environmental damage caused by Shell and other companies. We get an update from Nnimmo Bassey, executive director of Environmental Rights Action in Nigeria, which monitors spills around the country’s oil-rich southern delta.

Source: Oil Slick From Massive Spill in Nigeria Threatens Coastline, Maybe Largest in Decades –By Amy Goodman | Democracy Now!

Related: Coastal Pollution Fears After Nigeria Oil Spill | Euronews (Video)

 

Hundreds Slaughtered in Nigerian Ethnic Clash

NIGERIA- The Plateau State, where Jos is the capital, is known as the ‘The Home of Peace and Tourism.” It has a beautiful landscape, undisturbed savannas, countless wildlife, magnificent waterfalls, and a very strange rock made out of cropping. It was once an industrial manufacturer of tin and columbite.

Nigeria, a nation of 150 million people, is almost evenly split between Sunni Muslim is the north and predominately Christians in the south. The city of Jos is approximately 300 miles from the Nigerian capital Lagos and is the center of Nigeria’s tumultuous “middle belt,” a cultural fault line that divides the countries religious groups. There are also over 250 tribes that live within the region. For a while, Christians and Muslims lived in peace with one another, bartering services and helping each other with farm and house work.

That was then. Now the city of Jos, is the center stage to an ongoing bloody struggle between the Muslims and the Christians.

Thousands of women in black, one of them carrying a placard reading, "Why Kill Children?" march in protest.

The most recent violent clash began on Sunday, March 7, 2010. Muslims of the Fulani tribe entered the Christian village occupied by the Berom ethnic group at 3:00 a.m. and ambushed the unsuspecting group. Eyewitnesses to massacre said the Muslims using machetes and other dangerous tools hacked up everyone within sight, including innocent children, women and the elderly. Some reports estimate that over 500 people are dead and that dozens of corpses were piled up in the streets near the center city of Jos.

A villager, Peter Jang, said: “They came around three o’clock in the morning and started shooting into the air. The shooting was meant to bring people from their houses and then, when people came out, they started cutting them with machetes.” –Guardian UK

Some witnesses said villagers were caught in fishing nets and animal traps as they tried to escape and were then hacked to death. Mud huts were also set on fire.

Other survivors recounted being stopped by people and asked “Who are you?” in Fulani, a language spoken mostly by Muslim. If the person could not or did not respond in Fulani, they were immediately killed. There are even allegations that some attackers were paid by organizations.

Source of the Conflict

Many insist these violent uprising are the cause of religious and ethnic differences, but the problems go much deeper, according to a recent TIME’s article:

Many Nigerians argue that the real reason for the violence isn’t ethnic or religious differences but the scramble for land, scarce resources and political clout. Poverty, joblessness and corrupt politics drive extremists from both sides to commit horrendous atrocities. Although the nation rakes in billions of dollars in oil revenue annually, the majority of Nigerians scrape by on less than a dollar a day. In Plateau State, where Jos is located, Muslim cattle herders from the north and Christian farmers from the south vie for control of the fertile plains.

That poor distribution of wealth has also sparked conflict in Nigeria’s oil-rich southern Delta region, where militants lobbying for a greater share of oil revenue regularly blow up pipelines and kidnap foreign oil workers. Andrew Kakabadse, professor of international management development at the U.K.-based Cranfield School of Management, says oil companies have at various times pitted ethnic factions against one another for economic gain.

Kakabadse blames a lethal combination of outside oil interests, long-standing local conflicts and poverty for the sectarian strife. “In Nigeria the Christian-Muslim thing is the tip of the iceberg,” he says. “What’s underneath the water is a much more complex sociopolitical situation, which cannot be explained just in terms of the religious divide. You have a recipe ripe for conflict, and it just so happens to be Christian-Muslim.”

In addition to the reasons mentioned, some report this most recent attack was retaliation against Christians who allegedly attacked Muslims in January, killing 200 and displacing thousands. Similarly, Muslim eyewitnesses to those atrocities recall Christians approaching them on the streets and asking if they were Christian. If they answered “no” or refuse to answer, they were murdered.

International Red Cross reports that hundreds have fled the city of Jos in the aftermath of the recent violence.

JanuWrecked homes after religious fighting in ary in which hundreds died. Photo: Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP/Getty Images

The clashes represent a challenge for Acting President Jonathan. He formally took over the government last month from President Umaru Yar’Adua, who disappeared for weeks and was located in a Saudi Arabia hospital undergoing treatment for his a heart problem. Acting President Goodluck Jonathan promised protection through security forces, but Jos Christians fear the Muslim controlled police and military forces.

Sources:

Associated Press (AP)

BBC

Guardian UK

TIME

TIME -Nigerian Photo Gallery

 

Nigerian Police Extrajudicial Killings Caught on Video

Nigerian police and military units carried out extra-judicial killings last year in the aftermath of clashes with members of a Muslim group in the north of the country, footage obtained by Al Jazeera appears to confirm.

An estimated 1,000 people were killed as Nigerian government forces fought Boko Haram in Borno, Yobe, Kano and Bauchi states in July and August of 2009. But the footage obtained by Al Jazeera shows that many of the deaths occurred only after the fighting was over. Elements of the security forces staged a follow-up operation in which house-to-house searches were conducted and individuals were apparently selected at random and taken to a police station.

“Shoot Him in the Chest”

In the video, a number of unarmed men are seen being made to lie down in the road outside a building before they are shot. As one man is brought out to face death, one of the officers can be heard urging his colleague to “shoot him in the chest not the head – I want his hat”. As the executions continue another man is told: “Sit properly we want to take your picture.” The shootings continue as a crowd gathers further up the street in front of the police station. Voices can be heard saying: “No mercy, no mercy.”

Baba Fugu Mohammed's family says he was among those killed. Photo: AP/ Al Jazeera

Two officers seen in the video can be clearly identified by the name tags on their chests. The family of Baba Fugu Mohammed, a respected community leader, told Al Jazeera that he was among those put to death outside the police station. “He was killed, he was killed, that’s what we believe. He was shot by the police,” one relative said.
Fugu Mohammed was the father-in-law of Mohammed Yusuf, the Boko Haram leader whose group had battled the police, but the two had become estranged. His family said that he had come to help police restore order, but was shot.

Killings of Innocents
In the days following the clashes between the police and Boko Haram, the government, police and military repeatedly denied that civilians had been killed by their personnel. But Nigerian officials have since acknowledged that extra-judicial killings took place and an inquiry was set up to investigate the incident. “It was obvious [from] what we have seen and from the eye witnesses that the government police were doing the killings of the innocent,” Abubakar Umar Garda, a senator and a member of Nigeria’s ruling People’s Democratic party, told Al Jazeera.

“The government is investigating the incident and as we go along the perpetrators will be put in front of the law and the law will take its course … the government acknowledged that this was a crime against humanity … you cannot shoot an unarmed civilian.” Fugu Mohammed’s family have given their story to the government commission set up to investigate the events that took place, but they are still waiting to receive an official explanation for the deaths. Senator Umar Garda could not confirm to Al Jazeera whether there had been any arrests relating to the killings and there have been few tangible signs of the inquiry bringing anyone to account.

Boko Haram Leader Killed
Aster Van Kregten, a Nigeria expert with rights group Amnesty International, told Al Jazeera that the group’s research suggested extra-judicial killings were widespread in Nigeria.

“Our research shows that the Nigerian police are getting away with murder, they killed hundreds of people a year without any investigation – any investigation on whether the use of force was lawful or not,” she said. “What we saw on the footage happened seven month ago and we haven’t heard anything from the government whether they have arrested anyone and how far the investigation is going.” Among those killed in the aftermath of the clashes between Boko Haram and the police, was Boko Haram leader Mohammed Yusuf.

In the Al Jazeera footage, he is seen wearing handcuffs and surrounded by heavily armed police officers. Nigerian police have said that Yusuf was killed while attempting to escape, but he died still wearing the handcuffs.

In another video, which was made available shortly after last year’s fighting, Yusuf is shown inside the police station, his body covered with marks and bruises, as he is questioned about the organisation that he led. It is not known whether the injuries were caused during the fighting, arrest, or detention.

Extra-judicial Killings
The New York-based Human Rights Watch described Yusuf’s death as “an extra-judicial killing”. “The extra-judicial killing of Mr Yusuf in police custody is a shocking example of the brazen contempt by the Nigerian police for the rule of law,” Eric Guttschuss, the organisation’s Nigeria researcher, said.

Boko Haram, which means “Western education is prohibited” in the local Hausa dialect, has called for the nationwide enforcement of a strict interpretation of Islamic law, or sharia, even among non-Muslims. Last year’s clashes took place after suspected Boko Haram members, armed with machetes, knives, bows and arrows, and home-made explosives, attacked police buildings and officers.

Nigeria’s 150 million people are nearly evenly divided between Christians, who dominate the south, and the primarily northern-based Muslims. Islamic law was implemented in 12 northern states after Nigeria returned to civilian rule in 1999 following years of military rule.

Source: Al Jazeera

 

Trafficking in Persons Report 2009: Victims’ Stories

The victims’ testimonies included in this report are meant to be representative only and do not include all forms of trafficking that occur. These stories could take place anywhere in the world and illustrate the many forms of trafficking and the wide variety of places in which they occur. No country is immune. Many of the victims’ names have been changed in this report. Most uncaptioned photographs are not images of confirmed trafficking victims, but they show the myriad forms of exploitation that define trafficking and the variety of cultures in which trafficking victims are found.

Azerbaijan

Azade, 22, left rural Azerbaijan to work at a massage parlor in Baku. But the massage parlor was a cover for a brothel. Soon after she arrived, a client who worked for the brothel owner forced himself on Azade and threatened to show a videotape of the assault to her father unless she engaged in prostitution at the brothel. Fearing the social stigma attached to rape and the consequences of bringing shame to her family, Azade submitted to several months of forced prostitution before she escaped with the help of an anti-trafficking NGO.

Mali – Cote d’Ivoire

Ibrahim, 11, dreamed of buying a bicycle. When a man he had known for some time told him that he could work on a cocoa farm and make enough money for a bicycle, radio, clothes and more, Ibrahim didn’t suspect the man to be a trafficker. The man took Ibrahim to Cote d’Ivoire and sold him to a cocoa farmer. Ibrahim and other trafficked boys worked long hours doing back-breaking and dangerous work farming cocoa and bananas. The farmer gave them little to eat, beat them severely, and forbade them from leaving the farm. Ibrahim suffered in forced labor for two years before he escaped and returned to Mali. He now works in a market garden but still doesn’t earn enough to buy a bicycle.

India

Jayati and her husband were bonded laborers at a rice mill in India for more than 30 years. From 2 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day, they separated and boiled rice, often suffering burns, injuries and illnesses. The owner of the mill threatened to hurt them if they tried to leave. Their children were forced to quit school and work alongside them in the mill. Their grandchildren were born into bonded servitude. In 2005, Jayati and her family were finally freed with the help of NGOs and local authorities. “I never dreamt of a day like this in my life,” she said after being freed.

Pakistan

Waleed, 45, was a bonded brick kiln worker until he was freed in 1997 by a historic Supreme Court decision that deemed bonded labor illegal. But he found it difficult to adjust to a life of freedom, not knowing how to support his family of six. Work at the kiln was the only life his family knew. So they went back. Ten years later, Waleed is once again in bondage, having accumulated more than $700 in debt. He, his wife, two young daughters, son, and daughter-in-law all work as brick makers. Together they make 2,000 bricks a day, for which they are paid $3. To cover their daily expenses—including food, electricity for a single 60-watt light bulb, and medical care for frequent mosquito-borne illnesses—the family takes more loans from the kiln owners and continues working to repay their debts.

Azerbaijan

Dilara’s sister had been tricked into an unregistered marriage to a trafficker who later abandoned her when she got pregnant. When Dilara confronted her sister’s traffickers, she herself became a victim. She ended up in Turkey, where she and other abducted girls were tortured and forced to engage in prostitution. Dilara escaped with the help of Turkish police, who promptly arrested the nine men who trafficked Dilara and her sister. She then approached a local NGO for legal aid and counseling. The NGO also helped Dilara learn computer programming and find employment with a company in Baku.

The Balkans

When Julia was 8, a man took her and her sisters to a neighboring country and forced them to beg on the streets until their early teens, when he sold them into prostitution. Julia’s traffickers expected her to bring in a certain amount of money each day or face beatings. At 14, Julia ran away, eventually coming under the supervision of local authorities. They placed her in an orphanage where she was not allowed to go to school due to her undocumented status. After a few months, Julia ran away from the orphanage and became involved with a pimp who prostituted her to local men and tourists. Recently, Julia was arrested on narcotics charges. She will likely spend the next two years in a juvenile prison, where she will finally learn to read and write.

Brazil

Matheus was born and raised in one of the poorest backlands of Brazil. For the 39-year-old farmhand, the opportunity to work at a charcoal production site in the Amazon region was too good to miss. But the reality he faced at the work site was far from the opportunity he expected. The workers drank from the same river used by cattle. Smoke from the charcoal furnace stung their eyes all day and made it difficult to sleep at night. They knew the owners had weapons, and they feared the consequences of trying to escape. When anti-slavery activists arrived at the site, they found Matheus and 10 other workers disheveled, wearing torn trousers, filthy T-shirts, and rubber flip-flops.

Democratic Republic of The Congo

Lucien was studying at school when members of a militia group abducted him and 11 other boys from his secondary school. The soldiers drove them to a training camp and put them in a pit in the ground. Those who resisted were beaten. Lucien was stabbed in the stomach and tied up until he submitted to the training. Lucien endured difficult training with some 60 other children, including a number of girls. They were fed one plate of maize meal a day to share among 12 people. Lucien watched people die from starvation and illness. When the soldiers killed those who tried to escape, they forced Lucien and other children to bury the bodies. Lucien later managed to escape and now lives with a host family.

Morocco-Cyprus

Rania signed a contract she couldn’t read and set off to earn money as a cleaner in Cyprus. But when she arrived, an agent told her she was going to work in a cabaret, have drinks with customers, and have sex with them if they wanted. She resisted and asked to be sent home but was told she had to repay her travel expenses first. Rania was raped. It was her first sexual experience. She knew if she returned to Morocco, her brother, a strict Muslim, would kill her for having sex before marriage and for damaging the family’s reputation. When she finally ran away, social workers took Rania to a government shelter for victims of sexual exploitation. While police investigated the case, Rania stayed in Cyprus and worked as a cleaner.

China

Xiao Ping, 20, had spent most of her life in her small village in Sichuan Province. She was thrilled when her new boyfriend offered to take her on a weekend trip to his hometown. But her boyfriend and his friends took her instead to a desert village in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and sold her to a farmer to be his wife. The farmer imprisoned Xiao Ping, beat her, and raped her for 32 months. In that time Xiao Ping grew depressed and homesick, and she became pregnant and had a son. Xiao Ping’s family borrowed a substantial sum to pay for her rescue, but the farmer’s family forced her to leave behind her 6-month-old baby. To cancel the debts, Xiao Ping married the man who provided the loan. But her husband regarded her as “stained goods,” and the marriage did not last.

Southeast Europe

A man trafficked for labor exploitation explains: “I once fainted and the owner took me to the hospital. There the doctor asked me why I didn’t have any registration. I told him that my owner didn’t let me leave the territory I worked. He seemed to have understood the situation I got into… I felt safe at that moment. I thought I would stay there for a long time and I would be able to go home… I was there for three days. On the third day the doctor told me that the treatment was over and the costs were covered by a charity organization. When I went out of the hospital, I saw my owner waiting for me.”

Burma-Malaysia

When Mya, 59, and her husband feared for their lives in Burma, they fled and took refuge in Malaysia. One night, when her husband was at work, Malaysian officials raided Mya’s home and took her to a local police station. For five days, groups of Chinese and Malay officers beat her violently, deprived her of food, and demanded to know where her husband was. A judge sentenced Mya to five months in prison for entering Malaysia illegally. Mya endured abusive conditions in both prison and immigration detention camps before she and other refugees were deported and sold to a Burmese man along the way. Those who could not repay the trafficker were sold to fish trawlers, into prostitution, or to be maids.

Uzbekistan-India

Nila and Miram, ages 20 and 22, traveled from rural Uzbekistan to India to work for a fashion design company after hearing a friend’s stories of lavish parties and unending wealth. But once they arrived, their passports were taken and they were told they would not be designing clothing but instead servicing clients at various luxury hotels. Indian authorities eventually discovered the sex trafficking ring. The women returned to Uzbekistan and received necessary victim care and rehabilitative assistance from a shelter.

Cambodia-Thailand

In Cambodia, Phirun worked in the fields growing rice and vegetables. Promised higher wages for factory work in Thailand, Phirun and other men paid a recruiter to smuggle them across the border. But once in Thailand, the recruiter took their passports and locked them in a room. He then sold them to the owner of a fishing boat, on which the men worked all day and night slicing and gutting fish and repairing torn nets. They were given little food or fresh water, and they rarely saw land. Phirun was beaten nearly unconscious and watched the crew beat and shoot other workers and throw their bodies into the sea. Phirun endured this life at sea for two years before he persuaded his traffickers to release him.

Guinea

After her mother and brother died, Jeannette’s father gave her away at age 8 to work as a domestic servant. Jeannette did housework for 18 hours a day, but she was never paid. She slept on the verandah and ate leftovers. Sometimes, she was denied food altogether. Jeannette was beaten frequently, particularly when she tried to rest. When his wife left the house, the male guardian raped Jeannette. She was not allowed to leave, but even if she was, she wouldn’t know where to go. She didn’t know if her father was still alive. Jeannette later received assistance from a local NGO.

Indonesia-Gulf

Keni binti Carda, 28, left Indonesia to work as a domestic worker in a Gulf state. The woman who employed Keni allegedly burned her repeatedly with an iron, forced her to ingest feces, abused her psychologically, and applied household cleaners to Keni’s open wounds. She poked Keni’s tongue with a knife, pried her teeth loose and forced them down her throat, beat her own children when they tried to protest, and threatened to kill Keni if she tried to escape. Keni’s employer made her work extremely long hours every day, locked her inside the house, and sent Keni back to Indonesia before she could seek help from the authorities. She has impaired vision in one eye, and her flesh is fused together in some places where her employer allegedly burned her.

Southeast Europe

Many victims don’t know where to go for help when they escape from their traffickers or after they return home. A male victim of forced labor explains: “I knew nothing about the assistance available for trafficking victims. I didn’t know who to address in the destination country in case I needed help. I thought I could go only to the police. There I didn’t have enough courage to go to the police because the [traffickers] used to say that they bought the police. They threatened me with death in case I went to the police. I was afraid.”

Nigeria-Ghana-Italy

Anita was trafficked from Nigeria through Ghana to Italy, where she was forced to have sex with more than 25 men a day. If she resisted, her “madam” would beat her with a belt, starve her, and threaten to deport her. Anita would rotate through Turin, Rome, and Milan, enduring mental torture and physical abuse at each base. Anita’s traffickers raped her several times, and she underwent several crude abortions. Anita survived, but some of her friends died in the ordeal.

Source: U.S. Department of State