Corporate liability – Human Rights Insights

Cisco case: US Supreme Court shuts the courthouse doors permanently to corporate accountability under the Alien Tort Statute

On 23 June 2026, the US Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals 2023 decision that had allowed proceedings against Cisco System under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) to proceed. The Court of Appeals’ decision was a ray of light for corporate accountability coming through an almost closed door after several Supreme Court’s rulings issued over the last two decades drastically limiting the possibility to use the ATS. The Supreme Court’s new ruling shuts the door permanently.

Climate risks fall under the scope of the French Duty of Vigilance Law court says in the case against TotalEnergies

In the first climate lawsuit against a multinational company in France, on 25 June 2026, the Paris civil court (ruling in French) recognised the inclusion of climate risks under the scope of the Duty of vigilance law and ordered TotalEnergies, one of the world largest oil and gas producers, to complement its vigilance plan within 6 months to include as part of its risk mapping scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions (all indirect emissions arising in the company’s value chain, including emissions resulting from the use of the company’s oil and gas products) as well as appropriated measures to mitigate and prevent the company’s impact on the climate.

Corporate criminal liability: Analysis of the recent landmark ruling against Lafarge for financing terrorism in Syria

In a landmark 526 pages long ruling, the 16^th criminal chamber of the Paris civil court found on 13 April 2026 Lafarge S.A, four former top executives, including the CEO, two former security managers and two intermediaries guilty of financing terrorism in the groundbreaking case regarding the payment of over $5 million by Lafarge’s Syrian subsidiary to terrorist groups, including ISIS between 2013 and 2014 to maintain the activity of its cement plant in the surrounding of Aleppo, Syria. The plant whose construction cost $680 million started operating in 2010 (para. 78). The objective for the plant was to supply 30% of Syrian market cement needs (para. 78), competing against Turkish cement industry.

This case is historic in many respects: (1) for the first time a French company has been convicted for financing a terrorist organisation, (2) the parent company has been convicted for financing a terrorist organisation through its subsidiary and (3) two former top executives were sent out to jail immediately after the ruling delivery.

Human rights and environmental due diligence legislation in South Korea: Insights from Korean civil society on recent developments

On 13 June 2025, Asia’s first mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence bill was reintroduced in South Korea’s National Assembly. The Bill developed by Korean civil society organisations, in particular KTNC Watch, was initially introduced to Parliament in September 2023 but collapsed at the end of the Parliament term. After undergoing revision and review, the Legislative Bill for the Act on the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment for Sustainable Business Management (in English), was reintroduced last year.

Ji Yoon Kang, Staff Attorney at GongGam Human Rights Law Foundation and a member of KTNC Watch, who has been directly involved in the drafting process of the Bill and its reintroduction to Parliament, provide us insights about recent legal developments and the general corporate accountability context in South Korea.

Yves Rocher found liable under the French Duty of Vigilance Law over retaliation against unionised workers in Turkey

On 12 March 2026, the Paris civil court found the French beauty brand Yves Rocher liable for failing in its duty of vigilance regarding its activities in Turkey, specifically anti-unionisation practices. Following a membership campaign launched in January 2018 by the Petrol-Is trade union among the workers of Yves Rocher’s Turkish subsidiary, which led to the recognition of the union representativeness within the subsidiary (157 workers out of 379), in May 2018, a major wave of dismissals was carried out, with 132 employees fired; a retaliation against unionised workers.

In this unprecedent ruling, the court confirmed that the Duty of Vigilance Law applies to the activities of French companies’ subsidiaries operating abroad and ordered the company to compensate some employees. However, due to a restrictive interpretation of an agreement reached between the Turkish subsidiary and employees by the court, most plaintiffs’ claim for compensation was considered inadmissible, highly limiting Yves Rocher’s accountability and access to remedy for claimants.

Alien Tort Statute and Cisco case: Court of Appeal allows proceedings to continue

On July 7, 2023, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that proceedings against Cisco System under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) can proceed. In this decade long trial, practitioners of Falun Gong – a Chinese religious movement – alleged that they or family members were victims of human rights abuses including torture, arbitrary detention, forced labour, extrajudicial killing and forced disappearance committed by the Chinese Communist Party and Chinese government officials. According to the claimants, the alleged abuses were enabled by technological assistance of Cisco System, a US company which designed, implemented and helped to maintain a surveillance and internal security network (the Golden Shield system) for Chinese officials, greatly enhancing their capacity to identify Falun Gong practitioners and persecute them. In 2011, claimants sued Cisco for aiding and abetting Chinese officials in violation of the ATS.

Proceedings against Shell for oil spills in Nigeria can go on says the UK Supreme Court

Hard times for Shell. On 12 February 2021, two weeks after the Court of Appeal of The Hague found Shell subsidiary and parent company liable for oil spills in Nigeria in a landmark ruling, the UK Supreme Court, in a much awaited ruling, confirmed that proceedings against the parent company could continue before UK courts for similar issues raised by Nigerian farming and fishing communities, as real issues were to be tried.

Landmark ruling: Shell subsidiary and parent company found liable for oil spills in Nigeria

On January 29, 2021, the Court of Appeals of The Hague found in two judgements (cases A and B and cases C and D in Dutch) Shell Nigeria (SPDC) and its parent company Royal Dutch Shell (RDS) responsible for oil spills in the Niger Delta in Nigeria.

Trump administration against corporate liability for human rights violations under Alien Tort Statute

On May 26, 2020, the Trump administration filed a brief amicus curiae in the Cargill Inc. v John Doe case, urging the Supreme Court to hold that domestic corporations cannot be liable for human rights violations under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS).

In this case, former child slaves who were forced to work on cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast claim that Nestle US and Cargill aided and abetted slave labour by providing financial support and technical farming aid to famers, subjecting defendants to suit under the ATS.