The US Supreme Court has ruled that lawsuits regarding human rights abuses committed abroad cannot be heard by courts in the US.
12 Nigerians had filed a case against Shell over human rights violations in Nigeria during a crackdown on protestors in the early nineties, accusing the corporation of complicity in murder committed by the government.
However Chief Justice Roberts said that the Alien Tort Statute, a law passed in 1789, is not applicable in this Shell because it was not intended to be applied outside the US.
"Nothing in the text of the statute suggests that Congress intended causes of action recognised under it to have extraterritorial reach", Chief Justice Roberts said.
The ruling is expected to have an impact on other cases against corporations, like the one against mining company Rio Tinto over alleged abuses in Papua New Guinea.
