The headline of the New York Times on 24 April summed it up: ‘Supreme Court Bars Human Rights Suits Against Foreign Corporations’. The Jesner decision,
released earlier that day by the U.S. Supreme Court, triggered a tremor
of indignation in the human rights movement given the immunity it
conferred to foreign corporations violating human rights against suits
under the Alien Tort Statute, and led to a flood of legal and academic
commentaries online. This panel discussion, organised with the support
of the Netherlands Network of Human Rights Research, will
address various aspects of the judgment. Its aim is to better
understand the road travelled by American courts leading up to the
decision with regard to the application of the Alien Tort Statute to
corporations, to compare the decision with the position taken in other
jurisdictions, and to discuss the ruling's potential broader impact on
the direction taken by the business and human rights movement.
Where: T.M.C. Asser Instituut in The Hague
When: Thursday 24 May at 2:30 pm
Speakers:
- Phillip Paiement (Tilburg University) - The Jesner case and the ATS: An American perspective
- Lucas Roorda (Utrecht University) - A comparative perspective on Jesner and corporate liability for human rights violations
- Nadia Bernaz (Wageningen University) - Lessons for the business and human rights movement after Jesner
Register here!