UHRP Files Amicus Brief with U.S. Supreme Court: Human Rights Groups Back Effort to Prevent Corporate Complicity with the Chinese Communist Party Abuses

For immediate release
April 28, 2026, 10 a.m. EDT
Contact: Omer Kanat, +1 (202) 790-1795; Adaire Criner, +1 (612) 720-1136

On April 28, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear argument in Cisco Sys., Inc. v. Doe I. Cisco has asked the Court to determine if a major American tech company can be tried for allegedly helping the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) surveil and persecute Chinese religious and ethnic minorities. 

The Uyghur Human Rights Project has filed an amicus brief in support of the victims of CCP torture who brought the case. 

“Corporations that serve the Chinese government’s surveillance state must be held accountable ,” said Omer Kanat, UHRP Executive Director, in a statement. “Uyghurs and all victims of the CCP’s police state are counting on the Supreme Court to do the right thing.”

UHRP’s brief was joined by Human Rights in China, No Business with Genocide, the Human Trafficking Legal Center, and Corporate Accountability Lab. 

For over two decades, bipartisan congressional majorities have condemned the CCP’s human rights violations. Yet, some American corporations doing business in China have facilitated China’s human rights abuses of ethnic and religious minorities including the Falun Gong, Tibetans, and Uyghurs, including by helping construct China’s surveillance infrastructure and financing China’s rebuilding of its military-industrial complex.

The Cisco case was brought by victims of CCP persecution alleging that Cisco, from its headquarters in San Jose, designed a custom-built surveillance tool to purposefully facilitate the CCP’s human rights abuses against Falun Gong. They allege Cisco thereby “aided and abetted” the CCP’s persecution, including torture. 

The victims brought suit under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), which authorizes federal courts to decide cases alleging a U.S. entity committed a “tort” against an “alien” in violation of the “law of nations” (i.e., international law). Aiding and abetting has been a violation of international law since before the ATS’s enactment in 1789. Moreover, the tort law of at least 40 States permits actions for aiding and abetting, reflecting deep legal consensus that those who facilitate wrongdoing share responsibility for it. Cisco claims, however, that aiding and abetting claims should not be allowed under the ATS.

The victims ask the Supreme Court to honor the plain language of the ATS and Supreme Court precedent and permit them to hold Cisco accountable for its violation of international law. China is the United States’ foreign adversary, and the United States consistently condemns China’s human rights violations. As UHRP and other amici explained in the brief, a ruling in favor of Cisco would “arbitrarily deny access to the ATS for aliens alleging injuries from violations of international law that are contrary to and condemned by U.S. foreign policy.” 

UHRP’s brief can be read on the Supreme Court’s docket: https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/24/24-856/402997/20260327024732861_24-856%20ACB%20UHRP%20et%20al.%20ISO%20Resp%20Merit%20Stage.pdf

For additional information, contact info@uhrp.org. Counsel for UHRP may be reached at pac@harkinscunningham.com.