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ERI Files Brief for Human Rights and Labor Groups Challenging Corporate Immunity for Abuses
On behalf of a coalition of human rights and labor organizations, EarthRights International (ERI) filed an amicus brief challenging a recent court decision that granted corporations immunity from lawsuits alleging serious human rights abuses. In Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co., the Second Circuit Court of Appeals decided that corporations could not be sued under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), a U.S. law that allows lawsuits for violations of international law--including human rights abuses such as torture and crimes against humanity…Major human rights and labor groups joined together to support a rehearing in the Kiobel case…All the groups are concerned with the enforcement of international law against corporations, and disagree with the Second Circuit's decision and reasoning.