A landmark Canadian Supreme Court decision now opens the door to damages suits against corporations for violating international human rights law.

In Nevsun Resources Ltd. v. Araya, 2020 SCC 5, the court last month ruled by 5-4 that it is not “plain and obvious” that international law grants corporations “blanket immunity” from liability. Affirming the denial of a corporate defendant’s motion to strike the pleadings, the court remanded for determinations of (1) whether the particular human rights norms at issue bind corporations and if so, (2) whether a damages remedy should be grounded directly on customary international law as part of the common law, on recognition of new common law torts or, less likely, on existing torts and potential punitive damages.

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