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Unable
to pursue justice through their own courts, some victims
of war crimes are suing their perpetrators in U.S. courts
with an obscure piece of legislation called the Alien
Tort Law
When world leaders gathered in New York last autumn for
the Millennium summit at the end of 2000, they expected
all of the meetings, speeches, and handshakes that are
customary elements of diplomatic practice — but several
leaders got something that they did not expect: a summons
to appear before U.S. courts to account for crimes committed
in their homelands. Li Peng, former Chinese premier, and
Robert Mugabe, president of Zimbabwe, were both served
with court papers for cases brought by victims. Both faced
accusations that they ordered massive human rights violations,
including torture and extrajudicial killing. In recent
months, the stream of lawsuits has grown even stronger.
East Timorese plaintiffs are suing the former chief of
staff of the Indonesian armed forces, General Johny Lumintang,
in a District of Columbia federal court. The lawsuit accuses
him of masterminding attacks on the population of East
Timor, in violation of international human rights law.
The legal foundation for the lawsuits against these leaders
stems from a little known but increasingly relevant law
called the Alien Tort Claims Act, which was passed by
the first U.S. Congress in 1789. The Act gives U.S. federal
courts jurisdiction over "any civil action by an
alien for a tort only, committed in violation of the law
of nations or a treaty of the United States." The
statute can be read to give U.S. courts jurisdiction over
non-criminal abuses that occur anywhere in the world,
so long as the alleged wrong would violate international
law.
The law lay hidden in the books — and was largely
unused — until 1978, when a Paraguayan man named
Dr. Joel Filartiga heard from a group of Paraguayan immigrants
in Brooklyn, New York that the policeman who tortured
to death his 17-year-old son was in the United States.
Eager to ensure that his son’s killer faced justice,
Filartiga sought help from the New York-based Center for
Constitutional Rights. The center dug up the 200-year
old statute, which allowed Filartiga to file suit against
the torturer in New York District Court. Labeling torturers
"enemies of all mankind", the Court of Appeals
for the Second Circuit eventually allowed the suit to
go forward even though the alleged violation took place
in Paraguay and involved only Paraguayan citizens. The
Filartigas were eventually awarded $10 million. Unfortunately,
the Filartigas were never able to collect damages, and
U.S. immigration officials deported the Paraguayan officer.
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