| Publication |
2010.
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| Summary/Abstract |
The Wiwa cases are important in how they relate to the US Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA) and have been considered landmark cases by some scholars because the plaintiffs received compensation through a settlement reached with the defendants out of court. However, the question remains as to whether the plaintiffs can accept compensation or receive favourable judgments in a lawsuit for which the cause of action is that the environment has been destroyed and that environmental rights have been violated under the US ATCA. In my view, the possible judgments would not be satisfactory under the circumstances that environmental rights are still not regarded as a kind of human right and that environmental crime has been confined to wartime environmental destruction until now. Therefore, the role played by extraterritorial jurisdiction of the US Court under the ATCA concerning overseas environmental protection would still be limited.
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