By John Allen由約翰李鵬飛
Cape Town開普敦

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.種族隔離制度的受害者，誰是起訴23領先的跨國公司在美國法庭上，理由是該公司的合作與政策已獲得清關，採取他們的情況前進。

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.美國最高法院發布了一項命令，在華盛頓特區，對週一肯定的決定，由一個下級法院，它們所導致的影響是讓案件繼續進行。 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.最高法院是無法聽到如此，因為其四個九名成員不得不迴避自己，離開法庭無法形成足夠的法定人數。

The那個 Khulumani Support Group khulumani支援小組 , an organisation of apartheid victims and survivors, welcomed the court order as a “significant development” in a statement issued in Cape Town on Tuesday. ，一個組織的種族隔離政策的受害者和倖存者，歡迎法院的命令作為一個“重大發展”發表的一份聲明中在南非開普敦對週二。

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.”它說，這一決定意味著“關鍵的論據，公司應被追究責任協助及教唆他人犯下嚴重侵犯人權的，現在可以審問” 。

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.不過，紐約時報，最高法院通訊員琳達溫室報導，週二，它仍然是“高度不確定”案件是否會去審判。

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.她寫道，該法院已持懷疑態度，在以往有關使用兩百年歷史的美國法律，根據該案件現正所帶來的，外國人侵權規約，作為一種手段，追求案件所產生的侵犯人權的承諾，美國以外的在一個腳註到以前的情況下，它曾表示，該種族隔離的情況有“有力的論據認為，聯邦法院應給予嚴重的重量，以行政部門的意見，有關個案的影響，外交政策” 。布什政府，以及南非政府，反對此案。

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.溫室也有人認為，法院是無法聽到的種族隔離情況下，作為一個後果，由三名法官組成的持股在被告公司，以及就業由另一家公司的兒子，第四個法官。

“The outcome calls attention to the occasionally uncomfortable consequences of the justices’ ownership of stock in individual companies,” she wrote. “結果，呼籲關注到，有時不舒服的後果，法官擁有的股票在個別公司， ”她寫道。 “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.” “與孤立recusals正在更加頻繁， 4月至4月的僵局，是一種較為常見的結果比無法著手處理此案，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說，其理由有針對性的跨國公司“因協助及教唆他人犯下嚴重侵犯人權的行為在南非的種族隔離制度下，由裝備和融資種族隔離政府的軍事和安全機構” 。

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.”它說，所有被告已在行動種族隔離的南非，這是要求賠償“的具體侵犯國際公認的人權準則…由種族隔離政府之後，聯合國的分類，種族隔離是一種危害人類罪” 。

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. 它命名為被告的案件為：巴克萊國家銀行有限公司，英國石油，臨立會，雪佛龍德士古公司，雪佛龍德士古全球能源公司，花旗集團，公司，商業銀行，瑞士信貸集團，戴姆勒克萊斯勒，德意志銀行，德累斯登銀行公司，埃克森美孚公司，福特汽車公司，富士通有限公司，通用汽車公司，國際商用機器公司， JP摩根大通銀行，蜆殼油公司，瑞銀， aeg戴姆勒-奔馳工業，福陸公司，萊茵金屬集團公司， R ioT into的組和總國際泳聯- Elf公司。

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