The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is the global regulator of money laundering and terrorist financing. The intergovernmental body sets international standards to prevent such illegal activities and the harm they cause to society. As a decision-making body, the FATF seeks to generate the necessary political will to implement national legislative and regulatory reforms in these areas. Limitation period – A law that sets a time limit for taking legal action. In civil proceedings, the limitation period may begin to run when the offence has been committed or when it is first discovered. Action – A civil action in a court in which a party named as the plaintiff claims to have received damages for the negligent acts or omissions of a defendant. If the plaintiff is successful, the judgment will be in the plaintiff`s favor, and a number of court orders can be made to award financial damages or to impose an injunction to prevent or compel an act. Common Law – Common law refers to a legal system developed by decisions of similar courts and tribunals rather than statutory statutes. A decision in a current case depends on decisions made in previous cases, called precedents. This evolving precedent – also known as “common law” or “jurisprudence” – is binding on future decisions. Civil legal systems, on the other hand, derive their laws exclusively from laws and legal systems and not from previous judicial decisions. Common law countries include the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, South Africa, India and Pakistan. Asylum – The right of asylum is an old legal concept according to which a person persecuted in his or her own country because of his or her race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership of a particular social group can be protected by the sovereign government of a foreign state.

Also called political asylum. To date, ICE has launched more than 1,000 human rights-related investigations or deportation cases in more than 89 countries across the country, which are at various stages of investigation. See also Department of Homeland SecurityImmunity – The status of a person or entity that places them above the law and exempts them from legal obligations, such as tort liability or prosecution. Foreign governments and many of the officials who work for them often claim they are immune from human rights lawsuits in U.S. courts. See also Qualified Immunity, Sovereign Immunity, FSIA Organization of American States (OAS) – The Organization of American States (OAS) brings together 35 countries in the Western Hemisphere to strengthen cooperation on democratic values, defend common interests, and discuss the most important issues facing the region and the world. The OAS is the region`s leading multilateral forum for strengthening democracy, promoting human rights, and addressing common issues such as poverty, terrorism, illicit drugs, and corruption. Transitional justice – A set of judicial and extrajudicial strategies used to address a legacy of human rights violations and armed conflict in a particular country. These strategies have a variety of objectives: to hold those responsible for systematic abuses legally accountable for their actions; help eliminate social divisions caused by conflict; provide survivors with a full account and acknowledgement of abuses; offer material and moral reparations to survivors; and reform key State institutions such as the military, police and judiciary to ensure that systematic human rights violations do not recur. » Read More Exhaustion of Remedies – A legal doctrine that prevents a litigant from filing a claim in a new court or jurisdiction until all claims or remedies in the original have been exhausted (pursued as fully as possible). In U.S. courts, under the TVPA, survivors generally have to try to file a complaint in their home country before suing in the United States.

This rule has not been applied in domestic cases and courts have generally rejected the exhaustion requirement for ATCA cases. Even if there is a requirement of exhaustion, it can usually be met if survivors prove that it would have been unnecessary or impossible to try to bring an action in their home country. Cert Petition – A document that a losing party files with the U.S. Supreme Court asking the Supreme Court to review a lower court`s decision. It contains a list of the parties, a statement of the facts, the points of law subject to review and arguments for the Court to uphold the pleadings. Also known as Petition for Order of Certiorari, Petition for cert Qualified immunity – A legal doctrine that grants immunity from civil liability to a public official as long as the conduct in question does not violate clearly established constitutional or legal norms. Under this doctrine, a government official can still be held liable for certain types of egregious conduct. Universal jurisdiction (UJ) – The doctrine of international law, which states that certain crimes are so egregious that perpetrators can be held accountable wherever they are.

These crimes include genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and torture. This doctrine formed the legal basis for the Nuremberg trials against Nazi war criminals.