Private Law Remedies for Extraterritorial Human Rights Violations

Abstract

The rise of privately enforceable rights in national courts based on substantive international law is an undeniable global phenomenon. Private rights are one response to the necessity of legal institutions to cope with globalisation. Our examination centres on one aspect of this complex of problems: the availability and limits of private law remedies to human rights violations - largely, torts. This thesis presents a comparative inquiry into those rights and duties based on international law recognized in national legal orders. The thesis limits its inquiry to a few countries. Principally, the United States, and secondarily Britain, France, Belgium, and Germany. The law of Senegal, a former French colony, is also examined briefly as is Israeli and Greek law. All countries examined permit some form of extraterritorial human rights enforcement including private law enforcement. In practice, most countries examined permit private law enforcement for human rights violations. Numerous countries could not be examined due to limits on space and language. For example, Spain offers generous extraterritorial human rights protection but is not examined. Extraterritorial jurisdiction in Eastern Europe was not examined. The thesis limits itself to a discussion of private law rights, principally under international law, though complementary remedies in domestic law such as the TVPA (Torture Victim Protection Act) are considered secondarily.