On Friday a court in The Hague ruled that four Nigerian farmers and fishermen can sue Shell in courts in a Dutch court for pollution caused by oil spills in the African country. “The Dutch court and this court consider it has jurisdiction in the case against Shell and its subsidiary in Nigeria,” the judge said, news wire AFP reports.
The four Nigerian farmers and fishermen first filed this lawsuit in the Netherlands in 2008, with the help of the Dutch branch of environmental group Friends of the Earth. The farmers want Shell to clean up the oil spills in four very polluted villages in the Niger Delta, prevent future spills and pay compensation. Shell wants the judges to scrap Dutch jurisdiction on cases involving Nigeria and declare the farmers’ appeal inadmissible, according to the news wire.
The case centers on a charge from four farmers that Shell and its Nigerian unit are liable for damages caused by leaks from two underground oil pipes from 2004–2007. Shell has argued that it has no liability in the case and that Dutch courts did not have jurisdiction.
In 2013, judges rejected most of the case, saying pipeline leaks were caused by saboteurs, not Shell negligence. However, in one case, the judges ordered a subsidiary, Shell Nigeria, to compensate a farmer for breach of duty of care by making it too easy for saboteurs to open an oil well head that leaked on to his land.
In January 2013, a lower Dutch court ruled mostly in Shell’s favor, ruling that Shell has to pay compensation in only one of the four cases. The Appeals Court in The Hague decided differently. And rejected all Shell’s appeals.
In a statement The Hague Appeals Court said: “It cannot be established in advance that the parent company is not liable for possible negligence of the Nigerian operating company,”
In another victory for the plaintiffs, The Hague court also ordered Shell to give the farmers and environmental activists supporting their case access to internal documents that the court said could shed more light on the case.
Activists said the ruling sets a landmark legal precedent that clears the way for Dutch-based companies to be sued for alleged negligence of their subsidiaries elsewhere in the world.
“The ruling is a major victory, not only for the farmers, but indeed for the people of Nigeria,” Dutch Friends of the Earth spokesperson Geert Ritsema said after the ruling. “It sets a massive precedent, which means that Dutch courts can make judgments about Dutch companies in other countries.” He added that the farmers, who were following the proceedings via Skype, are “so happy that their efforts were not in vain.”
“There is now jurisprudence that means victims of human rights violations or pollution can sue Dutch multinationals in the Netherlands,” said Ritsema.
In a written reaction, Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary said it was disappointed in the ruling.
“We believe allegations concerning Nigerian plaintiffs in dispute with a Nigerian company, over issues which took place within Nigeria, should be heard in Nigeria,” the statement said.
Shell, which discovered and started tapping the country’s oil reserves in the late 1950s, has been heavily criticized by activists and local communities over oil spills and close ties to government security forces.
Shell’s local subsidiary is the top foreign oil producer in the Niger Delta, an oil-rich region of mangroves and swamps about the size of Portugal. Its production forms the backbone of crude production in Nigeria.
Friday’s decision means the case that centered on pollution in the land and in the water around Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta can proceed, likely next year.
Photo: Environmental destruction of Shell oil extraction in Niger Delta. Source: Association of Nigerians, Belgium, Amnesty International.
