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The US Alien Tort Act comes under renewed scrutiny this month as the Supreme Court hears allegations that the Shell oil company conspired with and abetted crimes against humanity in 1990s Nigeria.
Starting on 1 October, the Kiovel v Royal Dutch Petroleum (Shell) case will look at allegations of illegal executions, rape and abuse against the Ogoni people, who opposed Shell's oil operations in their territory. It is alleged that Shell conspired with the Nigerian military's campaign of brutal repression.
The court is set to adjudicate on the thorny question of whether the Act can be used to hold a corporation accountable in the US for crimes committed elsewhere in the world.
If the court decides that such allegations can be heard in the US, then Shell is likely to face new lawsuits, but the Act could also be used as a means of launching actions against other corporations.
The issue of the 200-year-old Act's application has been the subject of much debate in recent years. It looked defunct as a means of holding multinationals to account for human rights violations overseas in 2010 after a New York court ruled that the legislation could only be used to prosecute ‘natural persons', not corporations.
However, the issue took another turn last year as a three-strong panel of District of Columbia judges, on a vote of 2-1, rejected that ruling, which directly concerned Shell's involvement in Nigeria (EP, September 2011, p1).
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