Liberation Through Litigation, Part 2

Way back in the very early days of this blog, I proposed that North Korean workers should be able to sue their government for coercive and abusive labor practices under the Alien Tort Statute of 1789.  In fact, the statute was recently used with success against Unocal Corporation for its use of forced labor in a pipeline project in Burma.  Just watch Kaesong empty out if that ever comes to pass.

I had mentioned the idea once or twice since then and had considered the concept a sound one, though it never really seemed to get any traction.  So imagine my surprise to see that a big D.C. law firm, offering its time to the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea pro bono, has recently  proposed the same idea. 

The tricky part is that the statute only allows liability against U.S. entities — which would probably include U.S. subsidiaries of foreign companies — and only allows recovery for violations of “the law of nations.”  Piracy was traditionally such a violation.  Would slavery be one, too?   My advice would be to  try the Ninth Circuit first.