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4 J. Comp. L. 44 (2009)
Civil Litigation for Violations of International Human Rights Law: The Case of the Falun Gong under the Alien Tort Claims Act of 1789

handle is hein.journals/jrnatila4 and id is 262 raw text is: Civil Litigation for Violations of International Human Rights Law Civil Litigation for Violations of International Human Rights Law: the Case of the Falun Gong under the Alien Tort Claims Act of 1789 ELISA NESOSSI* The Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA)1 is a rather contested legal document, and a source of wide discussion and disagreement. It was passed by the first US Congress in 17892 and remained virtually a dead letter for almost 200 years. In 1980, the US Court of Appeal for the Second Circuit gave new life to the Act in the Fildrtiga case,4 which involved the kidnapping, torturing and killing of a Paraguayan national by a Paraguayan police inspector in Paraguay. In this case, the court held that the Act created federal jurisdiction for tort suits for acts in violation of international law brought by aliens, regardless of where in the world the tort was committed. Indeed, the Act reads: 'The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of any civil action by an alien for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of the nations or a treaty of the United States'.s In the Fildrtiga case, the court concluded that the law of nations6 is not a static body of law, but one that has evolved and exists among the nations of the world today. Furthermore, it held that 'deliberate torture perpetrated under colour of official authority * School of Law, SOAS, University of London 1 Alien Tort Claim Act, USC 28 s 1350 (1789). The Act is also commonly known as Alien Tort Statute and, less frequently, as Alien Tort Act. 2 The ATCA was part of the Judiciary Act of 1789, the legislation that created the US federal court system. Casto, WR (1986) 'The Federal Courts' Protective Jurisdiction Over Torts Committed in Violation of the Law of Nations' 18 Connecticut Law Review 467. Randall counted 21 lawsuits claiming ATCA jurisdiction brought before US courts prior to 1980. Randall, KC (1985) 'Federal Jurisdiction Over International Law Claims: Inquiries into the Alien Tort Claims Statute' 18 New York University Journal of International Law and Policy 1 at 4. 4 Fildrtiga v Pefia-Irala 630 F2d 876, 886 (2nd Circ 1980). An extremely detailed account of the Fildrtiga case is provided in White, RA (2004) Breaking Silence: The Case That Changed the Face of Human Rights Georgetown University Press. I Quoted in the Fildrtiga case supra n 4. 6 In 1987, the term 'law of the nations' originally used in the ATCA was replaced by 'international law'. American Law Institute (1987) Restatement of the Law Third. The Foreign Relations Law of the United States American Law Institute. 44 JCL 4:2

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