Last week’s pardon of six foreign medical workers accused of intentionally infecting over 400 children in Libya with HIV came as a big sigh of relief to many international observers and medical experts. The trial of the accused was highly publicized and caused international outrage at the Libyan government. The Libyan authorities had continually denied the appeals of the scientific community and various international HIV experts, who claimed that the HIV outbreak was not caused by the medical workers, but was a direct result of unsanitary conditions and poor hygienic practices in hospitals. Though the pardon is a step forward in bringing justice to those wrongly accused, the highly publicized nature of this case has enabled it to bring the focus to a greater problem facing people in Africa; namely, the high prevalence of HIV.  

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When one considers ways in which the United States can exert advocacy of greater human rights protections in Africa, nongovernmental organizations, the State Department, and multilateral institutions such as the United Nations come to mind. When I first considered the question, before studying international law in law school, the judicial system of the American courts never appeared on the radar. But the little-known Alien Tort Statute, a law on the books in the United States since 1789, has the potential to dramatically change the landscape for human rights and corporate accountability in Africa and throughout the globe.

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