Domestic Adjudication of International Human Rights Violations Under the Alien Tort Statute

The author of this Article was one of the judges who sat on the appeal of the Kadic v. Karadzic case, where a group of Croatian and Muslim citizens of Bosnia brought claims against Radovan Karadzic, president of the self-proclaimed Bosnian-Serb Republic, for the atrocities committed under his direction during the genocide. The Article discusses the adjudication of international human rights violations in the United States, beginning with an overview of the historical reception of international law in United States courts. It then discusses the 1980 case of Filartiga v. Pena-Irala and the development of the doctrine in Tel-Oren v. Libyan Arab Republic and Kadic v. Karadzic. Finally, it presents some unresolved questions with respect to the application of the Alien Tort Statute and offers some conclusions. [This Article does not deal specifically with women's rights violations. Some of the cases discussed in this Article are included in the Documents section of the WHRR.]