[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit [official website] on Friday reversed [opinion, PDF] and remanded a lower court ruling, reviving two lawsuits brought by Nigerian families against Pfizer [corporate website]. The consolidated lawsuits allege that Pfizer violated international law when it administered an experimental antibiotic to Nigerian children without the consent or knowledge of their patients. The US District Court for the Southern District of New York [official website] had dismissed the complaints, ruling that the court lacked subject matter jurisdiction under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) [28 U.S.C. § 1350 text] and in the alternative, on the ground of forum non conveniens. In overturning the district court's decision, the circuit court concluded:

(1) that the district court incorrectly determined that the prohibition in customary international law against nonconsensual human medical experimentation cannot be enforced through the ATS; (2) that changed circumstances in Nigeria since the filing of this appeal require re-examination of the appropriate forum, albeit on the basis of a legal analysis different from that employed by the district court; and (3) that the district court incorrectly applied Connecticut’s choice of law rules in the Adamu action.

[JURIST] Four human rights groups sent a letter [text] Friday urging US President Barack Obama [official website] to permit them full access to the Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detention center to assess the conditions and report on possible recommendations for changing US detention policies. The four groups, Human Rights Watch (HRW), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Amnesty International (AI), and Human Rights First [advocacy websites] were granted observer status to Guantanamo in August 2004, but they have not yet been allowed access to the detention center. According to the letter the groups promise to:

provide an outside assessment of current conditions and, as improvements are made, credibly, independently, and publicly report them to the world. Such access and reporting would further the objectives of the current Department of Defense (DoD) review and amplify the international benefits of improving conditions at the camps. Our presence itself will be welcomed as another break from the prior administration's policies on detainees, and set an example of transparency that will help advance human rights worldwide.