Corporate accountability and indigenous peoples: prospects and limitations of the US Alien Tort Claims Act

Indigenous peoples are often the victims of human rights violations at the hands of Multinational Corporations (MNCs). Since there are few avenues to ensure accountability for such violations, the US Alien Tort Claim Act (ATCA) has become one of the principal vehicles to ensure such liability. With varying degrees of success, ATCA has proven to be an attractive statute for ensuring accountability of MNCs. In recent years several cases have been lodged by indigenous peoples, including pioneering cases against corporations such as Texaco, Shell, Chevron and Rio Tinto. This article aims at analyzing the prospects but also the limitations of such a national tort act to provide remedies for human rights violations to indigenous communities. In doing so the article provides a practical analysis on the strengths and weaknesses of using ATCA as a tool for human rights litigation against MNCs.

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