By In what may be considered a groundbreaking ruling, a Dutch court has ordered Shell Nigeria to pay compensation to farmers in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, over oil spillage.
“Shell Nigeria is sentenced to compensate farmers for damages,” the court said.
The Court of Appeal Dutch in The Hague, on Friday, ruled that the parent company, Royal Dutch Shell has a ‘duty of care’ for pipelines in Nigeria and is liable for damages suffered by these farmers after oil spillage close to their villages. To prevent future reoccurrences, the company is expected to install necessary equipment.
In its argument, Royal Dutch Shell had insisted that saboteurs are responsible for leaks in underground oil pipes that have polluted the delta, adding that it should not be held legally responsible in the Netherlands for the actions of a foreign subsidiary.
The Nigerian farmers, supported by campaign group Friends of the Earth in their legal battle, argued that leaking pipes are caused by poor maintenance and inadequate security and that Shell does not do enough to clean up spills.
Though, the decision can be appealed to the Dutch Supreme Court. It, however, indicates the changing dynamics in the legal battle against multinationals as they can be held responsible for actions of their overseas subsidiaries.
This is coming 25 years after the killing of environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, who led a nonviolent campaign against environmental degradation of Ogoniland by the operations of multinational petroleum companies, especially the Royal Dutch Shell company.
