Opinion ID: 708054
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Alien Tort Act

Text: 12
The Alien Tort Act provides: 13 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 nations or a treaty of the United States. 14 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1350 (1988). Our decision in Filartiga established that this statute confers federal subject-matter jurisdiction when the following three conditions are satisfied: (1) an alien sues (2) for a tort (3) committed in violation of the law of nations (i.e., international law). 1 630 F.2d at 887; see also Amerada Hess Shipping Corp. v. Argentine Republic, 830 F.2d 421, 425 (2d Cir.1987), rev'd on other grounds, 488 U.S. 428, 109 S.Ct. 683, 102 L.Ed.2d 818 (1989). The first two requirements are plainly satisfied here, and the only disputed issue is whether plaintiffs have pleaded violations of international law. 15 Because the Alien Tort Act requires that plaintiffs plead a violation of the law of nations at the jurisdictional threshold, this statute requires a more searching review of the merits to establish jurisdiction than is required under the more flexible arising under formula of section 1331. See Filartiga, 630 F.2d at 887-88. Thus, it is not a sufficient basis for jurisdiction to plead merely a colorable violation of the law of nations. There is no federal subject-matter jurisdiction under the Alien Tort Act unless the complaint adequately pleads a violation of the law of nations (or treaty of the United States). 16 Filartiga established that courts ascertaining the content of the law of nations must interpret international law not as it was in 1789, but as it has evolved and exists among the nations of the world today. Id. at 881; see also Amerada Hess, 830 F.2d at 425. We find the norms of contemporary international law by  'consulting the works of jurists, writing professedly on public law; or by the general usage and practice of nations; or by judicial decisions recognizing and enforcing that law.'  Filartiga, 630 F.2d at 880 (quoting United States v. Smith, 18 U.S. (5 Wheat.) 153, 160-61, 5 L.Ed. 57 (1820)). If this inquiry discloses that the defendant's alleged conduct violates well-established, universally recognized norms of international law, id. at 888, as opposed to idiosyncratic legal rules, id. at 881, then federal jurisdiction exists under the Alien Tort Act. 17 Karadzic contends that appellants have not alleged violations of the norms of international law because such norms bind only states and persons acting under color of a state's law, not private individuals. In making this contention, Karadzic advances the contradictory positions that he is not a state actor, see Brief for Appellee at 19, even as he asserts that he is the President of the self-proclaimed Republic of Srpska, see statement of Radovan Karadzic, May 3, 1993, submitted with Defendant's Motion to Dismiss. For their part, the Kadic appellants also take somewhat inconsistent positions in pleading defendant's role as President of Srpska, Kadic Complaint p 13, and also contending that Karadzic is not an official of any government, Kadic Plaintiffs' Memorandum in Opposition to Defendant's Motion to Dismiss at 21 n. 25. 18 Judge Leisure accepted Karadzic's contention that acts committed by non-state actors do not violate the law of nations, Doe, 866 F.Supp. at 739, and considered him to be a non-state actor. 2 The Judge appears to have deemed state action required primarily on the basis of cases determining the need for state action as to claims of official torture, see, e.g., Carmichael v. United Technologies Corp., 835 F.2d 109 (5th Cir.1988), without consideration of the substantial body of law, discussed below, that renders private individuals liable for some international law violations. 19 We do not agree that the law of nations, as understood in the modern era, confines its reach to state action. Instead, we hold that certain forms of conduct violate the law of nations whether undertaken by those acting under the auspices of a state or only as private individuals. An early example of the application of the law of nations to the acts of private individuals is the prohibition against piracy. See United States v. Smith, 18 U.S. (5 Wheat.) 153, 161, 5 L.Ed. 57 (1820); United States v. Furlong, 18 U.S. (5 Wheat.) 184, 196-97, 5 L.Ed. 64 (1820). In The Brig Malek Adhel, 43 U.S. (2 How.) 210, 232, 11 L.Ed. 239 (1844), the Supreme Court observed that pirates were hostis humani generis (an enemy of all mankind) in part because they acted without ... any pretense of public authority. See generally 4 William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England 68 (facsimile of 1st ed. 1765-1769, Univ. of Chi. ed., 1979). Later examples are prohibitions against the slave trade and certain war crimes. See M. Cherif Bassiouni, Crimes Against Humanity in International Criminal Law 193 (1992); Jordan Paust, The Other Side of Right: Private Duties Under Human Rights Law, 5 Harv.Hum.Rts.J. 51 (1992). 20 The liability of private persons for certain violations of customary international law and the availability of the Alien Tort Act to remedy such violations was early recognized by the Executive Branch in an opinion of Attorney General Bradford in reference to acts of American citizens aiding the French fleet to plunder British property off the coast of Sierra Leone in 1795. See Breach of Neutrality, 1 Op. Att'y Gen. 57, 59 (1795). The Executive Branch has emphatically restated in this litigation its position that private persons may be found liable under the Alien Tort Act for acts of genocide, war crimes, and other violations of international humanitarian law. See Statement of Interest of the United States at 5-13. 21 The Restatement (Third) of the Foreign Relations Law of the United States (1986) (Restatement (Third) ) proclaims: Individuals may be held liable for offenses against international law, such as piracy, war crimes, and genocide. Restatement (Third) pt. II, introductory note. The Restatement is careful to identify those violations that are actionable when committed by a state, Restatement (Third) Sec. 702, 3 and a more limited category of violations of universal concern, id. Sec. 404, 4 partially overlapping with those listed in section 702. Though the immediate focus of section 404 is to identify those offenses for which a state has jurisdiction to punish without regard to territoriality or the nationality of the offenders, cf. id. Sec. 402(1)(a), (2), the inclusion of piracy and slave trade from an earlier era and aircraft hijacking from the modern era demonstrates that the offenses of universal concern include those capable of being committed by non-state actors. Although the jurisdiction authorized by section 404 is usually exercised by application of criminal law, international law also permits states to establish appropriate civil remedies, id. Sec. 404 cmt. b, such as the tort actions authorized by the Alien Tort Act. Indeed, the two cases invoking the Alien Tort Act prior to Filartiga both applied the civil remedy to private action. See Adra v. Clift, 195 F.Supp. 857 (D.Md.1961); Bolchos v. Darrel, 3 F.Cas. 810 (D.S.C.1795) (No. 1,607). 22 Karadzic disputes the application of the law of nations to any violations committed by private individuals, relying on Filartiga and the concurring opinion of Judge Edwards in Tel-Oren v. Libyan Arab Republic, 726 F.2d 774, 775 (D.C.Cir.1984), cert. denied, 470 U.S. 1003, 105 S.Ct. 1354, 84 L.Ed.2d 377 (1985). 5 Filartiga involved an allegation of torture committed by a state official. Relying on the United Nations' Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Being Subjected to Torture, G.A.Res. 3452, U.N. GAOR, U.N. Doc. A/1034 (1975) (hereinafter Declaration on Torture), as a definitive statement of norms of customary international law prohibiting states from permitting torture, we ruled that official torture is now prohibited by the law of nations. Filartiga, 630 F.2d at 884 (emphasis added). We had no occasion to consider whether international law violations other than torture are actionable against private individuals, and nothing in Filartiga purports to preclude such a result. 23 Nor did Judge Edwards in his scholarly opinion in Tel-Oren reject the application of international law to any private action. On the contrary, citing piracy and slave-trading as early examples, he observed that there exists a handful of crimes to which the law of nations attributes individual responsibility, 726 F.2d at 795. Reviewing authorities similar to those consulted in Filartiga, he merely concluded that torture--the specific violation alleged in Tel-Oren--was not within the limited category of violations that do not require state action. 24 Karadzic also contends that Congress intended the state-action requirement of the Torture Victim Act to apply to actions under the Alien Tort Act. We disagree. Congress enacted the Torture Victim Act to codify the cause of action recognized by this Circuit in Filartiga, and to further extend that cause of action to plaintiffs who are U.S. citizens. See H.R.Rep. No. 367, 102d Cong., 2d Sess., at 4 (1991), reprinted in 1992 U.S.C.C.A.N. 84, 86 (explaining that codification of Filartiga was necessary in light of skepticism expressed by Judge Bork's concurring opinion in Tel-Oren ). At the same time, Congress indicated that the Alien Tort Act has other important uses and should not be replaced, because 25 Claims based on torture and summary executions do not exhaust the list of actions that may appropriately be covered [by the Alien Tort Act]. That statute should remain intact to permit suits based on other norms that already exist or may ripen in the future into rules of customary international law. 26 Id. The scope of the Alien Tort Act remains undiminished by enactment of the Torture Victim Act. 27
28 In order to determine whether the offenses alleged by the appellants in this litigation are violations of the law of nations that may be the subject of Alien Tort Act claims against a private individual, we must make a particularized examination of these offenses, mindful of the important precept that evolving standards of international law govern who is within the [Alien Tort Act's] jurisdictional grant. Amerada Hess, 830 F.2d at 425. In making that inquiry, it will be helpful to group the appellants' claims into three categories: (a) genocide, (b) war crimes, and (c) other instances of inflicting death, torture, and degrading treatment. 29 (a) Genocide. In the aftermath of the atrocities committed during the Second World War, the condemnation of genocide as contrary to international law quickly achieved broad acceptance by the community of nations. In 1946, the General Assembly of the United Nations declared that genocide is a crime under international law that is condemned by the civilized world, whether the perpetrators are private individuals, public officials or statesmen. G.A.Res. 96(I), 1 U.N.GAOR, U.N. Doc. A/64/Add.1, at 188-89 (1946). The General Assembly also affirmed the principles of Article 6 of the Agreement and Charter Establishing the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal for punishing  'persecutions on political, racial, or religious grounds,'  regardless of whether the offenders acted  'as individuals or as members of organizations,'  In re Extradition of Demjanjuk, 612 F.Supp. 544, 555 n. 11 (N.D.Ohio 1985) (quoting Article 6). See G.A.Res. 95(I), 1 U.N.GAOR, U.N.Doc. A/64/Add.1, at 188 (1946). 30 The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, 78 U.N.T.S. 277, entered into force Jan. 12, 1951, for the United States Feb. 23, 1989 (hereinafter Convention on Genocide), provides a more specific articulation of the prohibition of genocide in international law. The Convention, which has been ratified by more than 120 nations, including the United States, see U.S. Dept. of State, Treaties in Force 345 (1994), defines genocide to mean 31 any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: 32
33
34 (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; 35 (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births with the group; 36 (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group. 37 Convention on Genocide art. II. Especially pertinent to the pending appeal, the Convention makes clear that [p]ersons committing genocide ... shall be punished, whether they are constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials or private individuals. Id. art. IV (emphasis added). These authorities unambiguously reflect that, from its incorporation into international law, the proscription of genocide has applied equally to state and non-state actors. 38 The applicability of this norm to private individuals is also confirmed by the Genocide Convention Implementation Act of 1987, 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1091 (1988), which criminalizes acts of genocide without regard to whether the offender is acting under color of law, see id. Sec. 1091(a) ([w]hoever commits genocide shall be punished), if the crime is committed within the United States or by a U.S. national, id. Sec. 1091(d). Though Congress provided that the Genocide Convention Implementation Act shall not be construed as creating any substantive or procedural right enforceable by law by any party in any proceeding, id. Sec. 1092, the legislative decision not to create a new private remedy does not imply that a private remedy is not already available under the Alien Tort Act. Nothing in the Genocide Convention Implementation Act or its legislative history reveals an intent by Congress to repeal the Alien Tort Act insofar as it applies to genocide, 6 and the two statutes are surely not repugnant to each other. Under these circumstances, it would be improper to construe the Genocide Convention Implementation Act as repealing the Alien Tort Act by implication. See Rodriguez v. United States, 480 U.S. 522, 524, 107 S.Ct. 1391, 1392, 94 L.Ed.2d 533 (1987) ([R]epeals by implication are not favored and will not be found unless an intent to repeal is clear and manifest.) (citations and internal quotation marks omitted); United States v. Cook, 922 F.2d 1026, 1034 (2d Cir.) (mutual exclusivity of statutes is required to demonstrate Congress's clear, affirmative intent to repeal), cert. denied, 500 U.S. 941, 111 S.Ct. 2235, 114 L.Ed.2d 477 (1991). 39 Appellants' allegations that Karadzic personally planned and ordered a campaign of murder, rape, forced impregnation, and other forms of torture designed to destroy the religious and ethnic groups of Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats clearly state a violation of the international law norm proscribing genocide, regardless of whether Karadzic acted under color of law or as a private individual. The District Court has subject-matter jurisdiction over these claims pursuant to the Alien Tort Act. 40 (b) War crimes. Plaintiffs also contend that the acts of murder, rape, torture, and arbitrary detention of civilians, committed in the course of hostilities, violate the law of war. Atrocities of the types alleged here have long been recognized in international law as violations of the law of war. See In re Yamashita, 327 U.S. 1, 14, 66 S.Ct. 340, 347, 90 L.Ed. 499 (1946). Moreover, international law imposes an affirmative duty on military commanders to take appropriate measures within their power to control troops under their command for the prevention of such atrocities. Id. at 15-16, 66 S.Ct. at 347-48. 41 After the Second World War, the law of war was codified in the four Geneva Conventions, 7 which have been ratified by more than 180 nations, including the United States, see Treaties in Force, supra, at 398-99. Common article 3, which is substantially identical in each of the four Conventions, applies to armed conflict[s] not of an international character and binds each Party to the conflict ... to apply, as a minimum, the following provisions: 42 Persons taking no active part in the hostilities ... shall in all circumstances be treated humanely, without any adverse distinction founded on race, colour, religion or faith, sex, birth or wealth, or any other similar criteria. 43 To this end, the following acts are and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever with respect to the above-mentioned persons: 44 (a) violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture; 45 (b) taking of hostages; 46
47 (d) the passing of sentences and carrying out of executions without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court.... 48 Geneva Convention I art. 3(1). Thus, under the law of war as codified in the Geneva Conventions, all parties to a conflict--which includes insurgent military groups--are obliged to adhere to these most fundamental requirements of the law of war. 8 49 The offenses alleged by the appellants, if proved, would violate the most fundamental norms of the law of war embodied in common article 3, which binds parties to internal conflicts regardless of whether they are recognized nations or roving hordes of insurgents. The liability of private individuals for committing war crimes has been recognized since World War I and was confirmed at Nuremberg after World War II, see Telford Taylor, Nuremberg Trials: War Crimes and International Law, 450 Int'l Conciliation 304 (April 1949) (collecting cases), and remains today an important aspect of international law, see Jordan Paust, After My Lai: The Case for War Crimes Jurisdiction Over Civilians in Federal District Courts, in 4 The Vietnam War and International Law 447 (R.Falk ed., 1976). The District Court has jurisdiction pursuant to the Alien Tort Act over appellants' claims of war crimes and other violations of international humanitarian law. 50 (c) Torture and summary execution. In Filartiga, we held that official torture is prohibited by universally accepted norms of international law, see 630 F.2d at 885, and the Torture Victim Act confirms this holding and extends it to cover summary execution. Torture Victim Act Secs. 2(a), 3(a). However, torture and summary execution--when not perpetrated in the course of genocide or war crimes--are proscribed by international law only when committed by state officials or under color of law. See Declaration on Torture art. 1 (defining torture as being inflicted by or at the instigation of a public official); Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment pt. I, art. 1, 23 I.L.M. 1027 (1984), as modified, 24 I.L.M. 535 (1985), entered into force June 26, 1987, ratified by United States Oct. 21, 1994, 34 I.L.M. 590, 591 (1995) (defining torture as inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity); Torture Victim Act Sec. 2(a) (imposing liability on individuals acting under actual or apparent authority, or color of law, of any foreign nation). 51 In the present case, appellants allege that acts of rape, torture, and summary execution were committed during hostilities by troops under Karadzic's command and with the specific intent of destroying appellants' ethnic-religious groups. Thus, many of the alleged atrocities are already encompassed within the appellants' claims of genocide and war crimes. Of course, at this threshold stage in the proceedings it cannot be known whether appellants will be able to prove the specific intent that is an element of genocide, or prove that each of the alleged torts were committed in the course of an armed conflict, as required to establish war crimes. It suffices to hold at this stage that the alleged atrocities are actionable under the Alien Tort Act, without regard to state action, to the extent that they were committed in pursuit of genocide or war crimes, and otherwise may be pursued against Karadzic to the extent that he is shown to be a state actor. Since the meaning of the state action requirement for purposes of international law violations will likely arise on remand and has already been considered by the District Court, we turn next to that requirement. 52
53 In dismissing plaintiffs' complaints for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction, the District Court concluded that the alleged violations required state action and that the Bosnian-Serb entity headed by Karadzic does not meet the definition of a state. Doe, 866 F.Supp. at 741 n. 12. Appellants contend that they are entitled to prove that Srpska satisfies the definition of a state for purposes of international law violations and, alternatively, that Karadzic acted in concert with the recognized state of the former Yugoslavia and its constituent republic, Serbia. 54 (a) Definition of a state in international law. The definition of a state is well established in international law: 55 Under international law, a state is an entity that has a defined territory and a permanent population, under the control of its own government, and that engages in, or has the capacity to engage in, formal relations with other such entities. 56 Restatement (Third) Sec. 201; accord Klinghoffer, 937 F.2d at 47; National Petrochemical Co. of Iran v. M/T Stolt Sheaf, 860 F.2d 551, 553 (2d Cir.1988); see also Texas v. White, 74 U.S. (7 Wall.) 700, 720, 19 L.Ed. 227 (1868). [A]ny government, however violent and wrongful in its origin, must be considered a de facto government if it was in the full and actual exercise of sovereignty over a territory and people large enough for a nation. Ford v. Surget, 97 U.S. (7 Otto) 594, 620, 24 L.Ed. 1018 (1878) (Clifford, J., concurring). 57 Although the Restatement's definition of statehood requires the capacity to engage in formal relations with other states, it does not require recognition by other states. See Restatement (Third) Sec. 202 cmt. b (An entity that satisfies the requirements of Sec. 201 is a state whether or not its statehood is formally recognized by other states.). Recognized states enjoy certain privileges and immunities relevant to judicial proceedings, see, e.g., Pfizer Inc. v. India, 434 U.S. 308, 318-20, 98 S.Ct. 584, 590-91, 54 L.Ed.2d 563 (1978) (diversity jurisdiction); Banco Nacional de Cuba v. Sabbatino, 376 U.S. 398, 408-12, 84 S.Ct. 923, 929-32, 11 L.Ed.2d 804 (1964) (access to U.S. courts); Lafontant, 844 F.Supp. at 131 (head-of-state immunity), but an unrecognized state is not a juridical nullity. Our courts have regularly given effect to the state action of unrecognized states. See, e.g., United States v. Insurance Cos., 89 U.S. (22 Wall.) 99, 101-03, 22 L.Ed. 816 (1875) (seceding states in Civil War); Thorington v. Smith, 75 U.S. (8 Wall.) 1, 9-12, 19 L.Ed. 361 (1868) (same); Carl Zeiss Stiftung v. VEB Carl Zeiss Jena, 433 F.2d 686, 699 (2d Cir.1970), cert. denied, 403 U.S. 905, 91 S.Ct. 2205, 29 L.Ed.2d 680 (1971) (post-World War II East Germany). 58 The customary international law of human rights, such as the proscription of official torture, applies to states without distinction between recognized and unrecognized states. See Restatement (Third) Secs. 207, 702. It would be anomalous indeed if non-recognition by the United States, which typically reflects disfavor with a foreign regime--sometimes due to human rights abuses--had the perverse effect of shielding officials of the unrecognized regime from liability for those violations of international law norms that apply only to state actors. 59 Appellants' allegations entitle them to prove that Karadzic's regime satisfies the criteria for a state, for purposes of those international law violations requiring state action. Srpska is alleged to control defined territory, control populations within its power, and to have entered into agreements with other governments. It has a president, a legislature, and its own currency. These circumstances readily appear to satisfy the criteria for a state in all aspects of international law. Moreover, it is likely that the state action concept, where applicable for some violations like official torture, requires merely the semblance of official authority. The inquiry, after all, is whether a person purporting to wield official power has exceeded internationally recognized standards of civilized conduct, not whether statehood in all its formal aspects exists. 60 (b) Acting in concert with a foreign state. Appellants also sufficiently alleged that Karadzic acted under color of law insofar as they claimed that he acted in concert with the former Yugoslavia, the statehood of which is not disputed. The color of law jurisprudence of 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 is a relevant guide to whether a defendant has engaged in official action for purposes of jurisdiction under the Alien Tort Act. See Forti v. Suarez-Mason, 672 F.Supp. 1531, 1546 (N.D.Cal.1987), reconsideration granted in part on other grounds, 694 F.Supp. 707 (N.D.Cal.1988). A private individual acts under color of law within the meaning of section 1983 when he acts together with state officials or with significant state aid. See Lugar v. Edmondson Oil Co., 457 U.S. 922, 937, 102 S.Ct. 2744, 2753-54, 73 L.Ed.2d 482 (1982). The appellants are entitled to prove their allegations that Karadzic acted under color of law of Yugoslavia by acting in concert with Yugoslav officials or with significant Yugoslavian aid.