7.

6 DC Decision on UNOCAL
FACTS: Four Burmese villagers filed suit against Unocal and its parent
company, the Union Oil Company of California under the Alien Tort Claims Act
(also known as the Alien Tort Statute), and later on, another fourteen
villagers also brought suit. The suits alleged various human rights violations,
including forced labor, wrongful death, false imprisonment, assault,
intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligence, all relating to the
construction of the Yadana gas pipeline project in Myanmar, formerly Burma.
ISSUE: Whether private actors may be liable for violations of international
law even absent state action.
RULING: Yes. The court stated that only individuals who have acted under
official authority or under color of such authority may violate international
law. However, Judge Edwards commented that individual liability remained
available, in the face of the 19th century trend toward statism, for a handful
of private acts, including piracy and slave trading.
The court disagreed that the law of nations, as understood in the
modern era, confines its reach to state action. Instead, [that court held] 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. That
court ultimately concluded that "[rape,] 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." However, the participation in the slave trade "violates
the law of nations whether undertaken by those acting under the auspices of
a state or only as private individuals.
The allegations of forced labor in this case are sufficient to constitute
an allegation of participation in slave trading. Although there is no allegation
that State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) is physically selling
Burmese citizens to the private defendants, plaintiffs allege that, despite
their knowledge of SLORC's practice of forced labor, both in general and with
respect to the pipeline project, the private defendants have paid and
continue to pay SLORC to provide labor and security for the pipeline,
essentially treating SLORC as an overseer, accepting the benefit of and
approving the use of forced labor.