Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991

Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991

Long title	An Act to carry out obligations of the United States under the United Nations Charter and other international agreements pertaining to the protection of human rights by establishing a civil action for recovery of damages from an individual who engages in torture or extrajudicial killing.
Acronyms (colloquial)	TVPA
Enacted by	the 102nd United States Congress
Effective	March 12, 1992
Citations
Public law	102-256
Statutes at Large	106 Stat. 73
Codification
Titles amended	28 U.S.C.: Judiciary and Judicial Procedure
U.S.C. sections amended	28 U.S.C. ch. 85 § 1350
Legislative history
Introduced in the House as H.R. 2092 by Gus Yatron (D–PA) on April 24, 1991 Committee consideration by House Foreign Affairs, House Judiciary Passed the House on November 25, 1991 (agreed voice vote) Passed the Senate on March 3, 1992 (passed voice vote) Signed into law by President George H. W. Bush on March 12, 1992
United States Supreme Court cases
Mohamad v. Palestinian Authority, 566 U.S. 449 (2012)

The Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991 (TVPA; Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 102–256, H.R. 2092, 106 Stat. 73, enacted March 12, 1992) is a US statute that allows for the filing of civil suits in the United States against individuals who, acting in an official capacity for any foreign nation, committed torture and/or extrajudicial killing. The statute requires a plaintiff to show exhaustion of local remedies in the location of the crime, to the extent that such remedies are "adequate and available." Plaintiffs may be U.S. citizens or non-U.S. citizens.

Although the Act was not passed until early 1992, it was introduced the previous year, and the official name of the Act is the "Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991."