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Dutch Court: Shell Can Be Liable For Nigeria Spills.(reuters). by godsgift233: 11:02pm On Dec 18, 2015 |
Four Nigerian farmers will have the
chance to sue Shell,
the multinational oil and gas
company, in the Netherlands for
pollution they blame on leaking
pipelines, a Dutch appeals court
has ruled.
The farmers, backed by the Dutch
branch of environmental group
Friends of the Earth, first filed the
case in 2008 against Shell in the
Netherlands, wanting the Anglo-
Dutch company to clean up
devastating oil spills in four
heavily polluted villages in
Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta.
The case also asked Shell to
prevent further spills and to pay
compensation.
Shell had argued that it had no
liability in the case and that Dutch
courts did not have jurisdiction.
"It cannot be established in
advance that the parent company is
not liable for possible negligence
of the Nigerian operating
company," The Hague Appeals
Court said in a statement.
Shell said it would comment after
studying the decision.
Activists said Friday's ruling sets a
landmark legal precedent that
clears the way for Netherlands-
based companies to be sued for
alleged negligence of their
subsidiaries elsewhere in the
world.
"There is now jurisprudence that
means victims of human rights
violations or pollution can sue
Dutch multinationals in the
Netherlands," said Geert Ritsema
of the Dutch arm of Friends of the
Earth.
In 2013, judges rejected most of the
case, saying pipeline leaks were
caused by saboteurs, not Shell
negligence.
The decision means the case can
proceed, most likely next year.
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.
READ MORE: Who is stealing
Nigeria's oil?
In another victory for the plaintiffs,
the court also ordered Shell to give
the farmers and environmental
activists supporting their case
access to internal documents that
could shed more light on the case.
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.
Shell, which discovered and
started tapping the country's oil
reserves in the late 1950s, has
been heavily criticised by activists
and local communities over oil
spills and close ties to government
security forces.
Source: Agencies.
reuters. |
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