In 2002, a group of Nigerian minors and their guardians sued Pfizer in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Plaintiffs alleged that "they suffered grave injuries from an experimental antibiotic administered by defendant Pfizer Inc. (Pfizer) without their informed consent". On 29 August 2001, plaintiffs brought this action under the Alien Tort Claims Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1350, to recover damages for Pfizer's alleged violations of the Nuremberg Code, the Declaration of Helsinki, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and customary international law (otherwise known as the "law of nations").