In response to today’s oral argument at the Supreme Court in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum, Human Rights First urges the Court to uphold the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) as a vehicle to provide remedies for gross human rights abuses committed abroad. “Though some Justices on the Court expressed skepticism that the ATS could apply extraterritorially, there’s nothing new or controversial about U.S. courts holding corporations accountable for human rights abuses committed abroad,” said Human Rights First’s Gabor Rona. “Key international law instruments that the United States has signed on to—including the Geneva Conventions and the United Nations Convention against Torture—require the United States to provide a forum to address war crimes and gross human rights violations wherever they are committed.”