By John Allen由约翰李鹏飞
Cape Town开普敦

Victims of apartheid who are suing 23 leading multinational corporations in American courts on the grounds that the companies collaborated with the policy have been given clearance to take their case forward.种族隔离制度的受害者，谁是起诉23领先的跨国公司在美国法庭上，理由是该公司的合作与政策已获得清关，采取他们的情况前进。

The United States Supreme Court issued an order in Washington, DC, on Monday affirming a decision by a lower court, the effect of which is to allow the case to go ahead.美国最高法院发布了一项命令，在华盛顿特区，对周一肯定的决定，由一个下级法院，它们所导致的影响是让案件继续进行。 The Supreme Court was unable to hear the case because four of its nine members had to recuse themselves, leaving the court unable to form a quorum.最高法院是无法听到如此，因为其四个九名成员不得不回避自己，离开法庭无法形成足够的法定人数。

The那个 Khulumani Support Group khulumani支援小组 , an organisation of apartheid victims and survivors, welcomed the court order as a “significant development” in a statement issued in Cape Town on Tuesday. ，一个组织的种族隔离政策的受害者和幸存者，欢迎法院的命令作为一个“重大发展”发表的一份声明中在南非开普敦对周二。

It said the decision meant “the critical arguments that corporations should be held accountable for aiding and abetting the perpetration of gross human rights violations, can now be interrogated.”它说，这一决定意味着“关键的论据，公司应被追究责任协助及教唆他人犯下严重侵犯人权的，现在可以审问” 。

However, New York Times Supreme Court correspondent Linda Greenhouse reported on Tuesday that it was still “highly uncertain” whether the case would ever go to trial.不过，纽约时报，最高法院通讯员琳达温室报道，周二，它仍然是“高度不确定”案件是否会去审判。

She wrote that the court had been sceptical in the past about using the two-century-old American law under which the case is being brought, the Alien Tort Statute, as a means of pursuing cases arising out of human rights violations committed outside the US In a footnote to a previous case, it had said of the apartheid case that there was “a strong argument that federal courts should give serious weight to the executive branch’s view of the case’s impact on foreign policy.” The Bush administration, as well as the South African government, have opposed the case.她写道，该法院已持怀疑态度，在过去约使用两百年历史的美国法律，根据该案件现正所带来的，外国人侵权规约，作为一种手段，追求案件所产生的侵犯人权的承诺，美国以外的在一个脚注到以前的情况下，它曾表示，该种族隔离的情况有“有力的论据认为，联邦法院应给予严重的重量，以行政部门的意见，有关个案的影响，外交政策” 。布什政府，以及南非政府，反对此案。

Greenhouse also suggested that the court was unable to hear the apartheid case as a consequence of three judges holding stock in defendant companies, and the employment by another company of the son of a fourth judge.温室也有人认为，法院是无法听到的种族隔离情况下，作为一个后果，由三名法官组成的持股在被告公司，以及就业由另一家公司的儿子，第四个法官。

“The outcome calls attention to the occasionally uncomfortable consequences of the justices’ ownership of stock in individual companies,” she wrote. “结果，呼吁关注到，有时不舒服的后果，法官拥有的股票在个别公司， ”她写道。 “With solitary recusals being much more frequent, a 4-to-4 deadlock is a more common outcome than an inability to proceed with the case at all.” “与孤立recusals正在更加频繁， 4月至4月的僵局，是一种较为常见的结果比无法着手处理此案，在所有” 。

Khulumani said its case targetted the multinationals “for having aided and abetted the perpetration of gross human rights violations in South Africa under apartheid by equipping and financing the apartheid government’s military and security agencies.” khulumani说，其理由有针对性的跨国公司“因协助及教唆他人犯下严重侵犯人权的行为在南非的种族隔离制度下，由装备和融资种族隔离政府的军事和安全机构” 。

It said all the defendants had operations in apartheid South Africa, and it was seeking damages for “specific violations of internationally recognized human rights norms… by the apartheid government following the United Nations’ classification of apartheid as a crime against humanity.”它说，所有被告已在行动种族隔离的南非，这是要求赔偿“的具体侵犯国际公认的人权准则…由种族隔离政府之后，联合国的分类，种族隔离是一种危害人类罪” 。

It named the defendants in the case as: Barclay National Bank Ltd., British Petroleum, PLC, Chevrontexaco Corporation, Chevrontexaco Global Energy, Inc., Citigroup, Inc., Commerzbank, Credit Suisse Group, Daimlerchrysler AG, Deutsche Bank AG, Dresdner Bank AG, Exxonmobil Corporation, Ford Motor Company, Fujitsu, Ltd., General Motors Corporations, International Business Machines Corp., JP Morgan Chase, Shell Oil Company, UBS AG, AEG Daimler-Benz Industrie, Fluor Corporation, Rheinmetall Group AG, Rio Tinto Group and Total-Fina-Elf. 它命名为被告的案件为：巴克莱国家银行有限公司，英国石油，临立会，雪佛龙德士古公司，雪佛龙德士古全球能源公司，花旗集团，公司，商业银行，瑞士信贷集团，戴姆勒克莱斯勒，德意志银行，德累斯登银行公司，埃克森美孚公司，福特汽车公司，富士通有限公司，通用汽车公司，国际商用机器公司， JP摩根大通银行，蚬壳油公司，瑞银， aeg戴姆勒-奔驰工业，福陆公司，莱茵金属集团公司， R ioT into的组和总国际泳联- Elf公司。

Popularity: 23% [人气： 23 ％ [ ? ？ ] ]