Solidarische Haftung einer Bank für Menschenrechtsverletzungen im Sudan
Entscheid Kashef v. BNP Paribas des US District Court for the Southern District of New York vom 16. Februar 2021
On 16 February 2021, a New York court held that under Art. 50(1) of the Swiss Code of Obligations, a bank may become jointly and severally liable for human rights violations committed by a foreign government if those violations would not have occurred in the same frequency or magnitude without the bank’s financial services. The case was brought against the French bank BNP Paribas S.A. by victims of the Sudanese regime under Omar al-Bashir. The bank was alleged to have helped the regime circumvent US sanctions, thereby enabling the regime to purchase weapons and materials which it used against its own people. Swiss law applied as the services in question were mainly provided by the bank’s Swiss subsidiary.
At this stage in the proceedings, the court only had to rule on the principle of liability under Swiss law, i.e. whether it was plausible that the defendant bank might be liable as an accomplice under Art. 50(1) CO. Whether or not the bank will indeed be held liable remains to be…
