International Rights Advocates

Case List by Region

LATIN AMERICA

Argentina

Daimler Chrysler: IRAdvocates filed suit in 2005 on behalf of the families of individuals “disappeared” during the Argentine “Dirty War” for Daimler Chrysler’s complicity in these extra-judicial killings.

Colombia

Chiquita: In June 2007, IRAdvocates filed suit against Chiquita on behalf of the families of 173 workers murdered by paramilitaries. IRAdvocates allege Chiquita’s complicity in the murders, as in order to force workers to quit a union or their job, to stop pressing legitimate grievances, or to accept poor working conditions, the corporation turned to the paramilitaries who acted by means of intimidation, threats, abductions, torture and murder for “protection.”
Coca-Cola I: IRAdvocates advanced the legal efforts it began with the United Steelworkers Union in 2001 to hold Coca-Cola accountable for the murder and torture of trade union leaders in Colombia.
Drummond: IRAdvocates filed suit in 2002 against the Drummond Company, an Alabama-based mining corporation with facilities in La Loma, Colombia, asserting claims on behalf of union mineworkers in Colombia who were tortured, kidnapped, and murdered by paramilitary gunmen.
Occidental Petroleum: In April 2003, ILRF and the Center for Human Rights at Northwestern University School of Law filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, against Occidental Petroleum and its security contractor, Airscan, Inc., for their role in the murder of innocent civilians in the hamlet of Santo Domingo, Colombia in 1998.

Ecuador

DynCorp:Filed in September 2001, claims has been brought forward of crimes against humanity and wrongful death on behalf of Ecuadorian subsistence farmers with no connection to the drug trade whose crops are being subjected to sustained, deadly aerial assaults financed by the US government through DynCorp.

Guatemala

Del Monte: In July 2001, a suit was filed on behalf of five former Guatemalan trade union leaders seeking damages from Del Monte Corporation for torture and unlawful detention related to their efforts to organize.

AFRICA

Cote D’Ivoire

Nestle, Archer Daniels Midland, and Cargill: IRAdvocates filed suit in July 2005 against Nestle, Archer Daniels Midland, and Cargill companies on behalf of Malian former child slaves, who were trafficked from Mali into Cote d’Ivoire and forced to work twelve to fourteen hours a day with no pay, little food and sleep, and frequent beatings.

Liberia

Bridgestone-Firestone: IRAdvocates filed a lawsuit in November 2005 on behalf of adults and children who work and live on the Firestone Plantation in Liberia. The suit charges that Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire, LLC and several affiliated companies forced workers to meet impossible quotas and benefited from the widespread use of unlawful child labor.

ASIA

Indonesia

ExxonMobil: IRAdvocates filed an ATCA claim against ExxonMobil in June 2001 on behalf of villagers from Aceh, Indonesia, who accuse the oil giant of paying and directing Indonesian security forces. The plaintiffs claim that these forces committed atrocities including murder, torture, crimes against humanity, sexual violence, and kidnapping in the course of protecting the company's liquefied natural gas facilities.

EUROPE

Turkey

Coca-Cola II: In 2005, 105 workers at a Coca-Cola bottling plant in Istanbul organized a lengthy sit-down strike in front of the main offices of Coca-Cola in Turkey. While leaders of the workers were meeting with senior management for the company, the company ordered Turkish riot police to attack the workers who were by all accounts peacefully assembled, many with their spouses and children. IRAdvocates filed suit on behalf of the victims for torture under the ATCA, as well as battery, assault, emotional distress under New York state law.

MULTIPLE REGIONS

Wal-Mart: A suit was filed in September 2005 on behalf of workers from four continents for massive, systematic wage and hour violations. Workers from China, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Swaziland, and Nicaragua joined together to press their common class claims that Wal-Mart knowingly uses suppliers that systematically deprive workers of the basic provisions of Wal-Mart’s code of conduct.