Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Filartiga v. Pena-lrala case brief

Filartiga v. Pena-lrala Relatives of decedent (P) v. Police officer (D)


Procedural History:
Appeal of dismissal of wrongful death action.

Overview:

Filartiga (P) filed an action against Pena-Irala (D), contending he had tortured to death Filartiga’s (P) decedent.
Filartiga (P) brought an action against PenaIrala (D), claiming that he had tortured to death Filartiga’s (P) decedent while Pena-Irala (D) was police InspectorGeneral. All parties were Paraguayan citizens. jurisdiction was based on the Alien Tort Statute, 28 U.S.C. §  1350, which provided jurisdiction for torts committed in violation of “the law of nations.” The district court dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. Filartiga (P) appealed.

Issue:

May torture be considered to violate the law of nations for purposes of the Alien Tort Statute?

Rule:

torture may be considered to violate the law of nations for purposes of the alien tort statute.

Analysis:

It is no great secret that what many members of the United Nations say in their pronouncements and what they do in practice are not quite the same things. Torture is still widely practiced if not in a majority of countries then in a significant number. Commentators have argued that actual practice. not U.N. declarations. constitutes customary international law.

Outcome:

Yes. Torture may be considered to violate the law of nations for purposes of the Alien Tort Statute. The prohibition against torture has become part of customary international law. This is particularly evidenced by various United Nations declarations, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 1975 Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Torture. A declaration from the United Nations is a formal and solemn instrument, and can be considered an authoritative statement from the international community. Beyond that, torture has been officially renounced in the vast majority of nations. For these reasons, this court concludes that torture violates the law of nations.

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